Issue 9, Volume 143 (Monday, November 14)

THE VARSITY

tions on work.”

Alyanna Denise Chua UTSC Bureau Chief

Starting November 15, international students across Canada will be able to work unlimited hours off campus. Previously, study permit hold ers were only allowed to work 20 hours per week off campus during the academic year. Ac cording to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser, this policy change is intended to address Canada’s ongoing labour shortage.

The new policy only applies to full-time inter national students who either have active study permits or submitted their study permit applica tions before October 8. The new policy will be in effect until December 31, 2023.

In interviews with The Varsity, U of T interna tional students said that the new policy will allow both employees and managers more flexibility in terms of scheduling, and enable international

students to obtain more work experience and in come. However, they are disappointed with the timing, impermanence, and exclusionary criteria of the policy.

Background

International students have been campaigning to remove the 20-hour work limit since at least 2019, when international student Jobandeep Singh Sandhu — then a mechanical engineer ing student at Canadore College in Mississauga — was arrested and deported after working for more than 20 hours off campus.

“[The policy change] is a step in the right di rection,” said Sarom Rho — the lead organizer of Migrant Students United, a branch of the ad vocacy organization Migrant Workers Alliance for Change — in an interview with The Varsity The change, Rho explained, “was in direct re sponse to years of current and former interna tional students directly organizing to end restric

However, she and U of T international student leaders maintain that the policy change is not enough to ensure the fair treatment of interna tional students in Canada.

Student responses

On October 7, Fraser announced that the fed eral government would be removing the 20hour work limit for international students, which would allow more than 500,000 international students currently in Canada to work more hours off campus.

International students enrolled in designated postsecondary programs can continue to work unlimited hours on campus and outside the academic year.

The removal of the 20-hour work limit is “about giving international students the power, freedom, and flexibility to make their own de cisions about when and where, and how to

work,” said Rho.

Vanness Yeung is a third-year UTSC inter national student from Hong Kong. Previously, the work limit prevented her from working more hours during reading weeks and holidays. “I was just staying at home, when I could’ve worked more and earned more money for my daily expenses,” she said in an interview with The Varsity

With the new policy, Yeung said that interna tional students will be able to choose to work more hours during reading weeks, holidays, and semester breaks, and to afford to work fewer hours during midterms or finals season to “focus on our studies.”

Alistair Kirk — a fourth-year UTM interna tional student from Ghana and vice-president external of the University of Toronto Mississau ga Students’ Union — also said that the new policy will allow international students to gain more work experience during their undergradu ate studies. “International students need to get [work] experience in order to land a job after they graduate,” Kirk said in an interview with The Varsity

Jadine

In last week’s issue of The Varsity, in a news article titled “UTFA agreement wins additional benefits for all members,” a UTFA statement about outstanding issues between the administration and the UTFA that included “reigning in” teaching workloads was misattributed to university administration. In addition, the article mistakenly wrote that Bill 124 limited salary increases, instead of increases in total compensation. CREDIT: Special illo thanks to Songzi Zhou. In honour of the first snows of the year, an educational tale from our archives, originally printed in October 1937. Now that it’s finally starting to cool down, it’s as relevant as ever to make sure you’re dressing for the weather!

UTSG

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

LEXEY BURNS/THEVARSITY

Players scramble for the puck following face off. CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

Players battle for the puck amid tripping incident.

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

From the varchives...

Continued from cover

Many international students work while enrolled in university in order to offset the costs of their high tuition fees, rent, and daily expenses. “There is a misconception that all international students are wealthy,” said Kirk. “We come from countries with differing economic conditions.” According to Bloomberg, the Ghanaian cedi is the world’s worst-performing currency in 2022 amid contin ued depreciation.

At U of T, international students pay almost 10 times the amount domestic students pay for tu ition fees. “The tuition fee is already expensive. I don’t want my parents or my family to pay for my daily expenses also, if I can support myself,” said Yeung.

International student statistics

In March, The Varsity published a three-part inves tigation regarding U of T’s high tuition fees placing international students in debt and distress.

Each year, international students contribute almost $22 billion to the Canadian economy through expenses and tuition, including an esti

mated $5.1 billion directly to postsecondary insti tutions and $3.7 billion in tax revenue, according to reports from Statistics Canada and the federal government. An investigation published by The Walrus found that international students’ fees are “propping up” Canada’s higher education system.

At U of T, more than 27,000 international stu dents collectively contribute almost $1.4 bil lion in tuition. International tuition fees remain U of T’s largest source of revenue, comprising 43 per cent of the university’s operating revenue in 2022–2023.

Addressing the labour shortage

In September, Statistics Canada reported that businesses were struggling to fill an “all-time high” of vacant job positions across the country. The reported shortage consisted of almost one million vacancies.

“By allowing international students to work more while they study, we can help ease press ing needs in many sectors across the country,” Fraser wrote in a press release.

Katie Ma, a second-year UTSC domestic stu dent and a previous manager at a bubble tea

shop, said in an interview with The Varsity that she supports the change. She explained that she believes hiring international students is an asset to her company. “We have a lot of international customers,” she said of her workplace. “There fore, it’s nice to have international students [on staff] who are able to speak various languages.” Ma has prioritized hiring people who could speak Chinese, Cantonese, or English so that her team could better communicate with the shop’s cus tomer base.

Previously, the 20-hour work limit constrained Ma’s ability to schedule international students for shifts. She had several supervisors who were international students — who were “great” at doing required tasks and supervising new em ployees — but who couldn’t always be present because of the 20-hour work limit.

“When they were not able to work, I had to be [at the store]. That created a lot of struggles for me because I’m also a student,” said Ma. With the new policy, she said that scheduling can be easier for managers.

Rho, however, said that the situation in Cana da is not a labour shortage crisis as Fraser sug

gested but “a crisis of low wages and poor work ing conditions.”

“Measures like removing the 20-hour work limit increases the power of migrant students to be able to protect themselves against exploita tion,” she said. “Migrant students are working past 20 hours already, just without rights… Bad employers are known to use the threat of depor tation to steal wages from workers after forcing them to work over 20 hours.”

Disappointment from the community

“It’s so disappointing that it was done now when they needed us and saw us as a way to fill the la bour shortage in the economy,” said Kirk. “We’re only being used when it suits the interest of the government.”

Michael Sobowale — a fifth-year international student from Nigeria and president of the Scar borough Campus Students’ Union — pointed out that the federal government’s emergency government grants in 2020 excluded interna tional students. Instead, the government tempo rarily removed the 20-hour work limit for interna tional students working in essential services at the time.

“There is a pattern of behaviour within the Ca nadian system in which international students are [being] used to fill economic gaps,” Sobowale said in an interview with The Varsity Moreover, students and activists say that the policy change being temporary is problematic. “It’s not enough, because the change is only temporary until 2023,” said Rho. Ma, Kirk, and Sobowale also want the policy to be made per manent.

Sobowale also said that it is unfair that the new policy excludes international students who applied for their study permits on or after Octo ber 8.

Rho concurred, “A system where some peo ple have more rights, and some people don’t, is going to further entrench a tiered system, which will allow employers… to exploit those who have less power to speak up.”

“We are going to continue to take action until all of us win the changes we deserve,” said Rho.

U of T proposes cuts to CUPE 3902 members’ benefits

University and union currently discussing reductions to health-care benefits

Selia Sanchez Associate News Editor

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, Lo cal 3902 (CUPE 3902), which represents U of T contract academic workers, is currently in discussions with U of T regarding proposed cuts to health care benefits for Unit 1 mem bers. The reductions, if adopted, would affect undergraduate and graduate teaching assis tants (TA), as well as course instructors.

Proposed cuts

Currently, claims on Unit 1’s health plans ex ceed the university’s available funding. Ac cording to a U of T spokesperson, the Unit 1 Collective Agreement requires the university and CUPE 3902 to review benefit levels “with the shared intent of adjusting benefit levels… when there is projected under or overspending in the [benefit] plans.”

While considering alternative plans to al leviate potential overspending, the university committed to three principles: adjusting the benefits currently being used, preserving highly used coverage as much as possible, and lim iting the impact of the cuts by spreading the benefit reductions to a wider base.

The university proposed two options for changes to the current health plan. The first op tion is to introduce a 10 per cent reduction in dental, a 50 per cent reduction in vision, a 10 per cent reduction in mental health services, and a 35 per cent reduction in Health Care Spending Accounts (HCSA) — credits which employees can use to pay for health, dental, and dental care not covered by their plan. In total, the cuts are expected to save U of T an estimated $413,000 while affecting approximately 5,000 claimants.

The second proposed option would reduce dental coverage by 12 per cent, completely eliminate vision, and reduce HCSA by 35 per cent. With this option, the university expects to save approximately $410,000, impacting around 4,500 claimants.

Pushback

PhD candidate Chen Zhong is one of the many TAs whom the proposed cuts would directly impact. In an email to The Varsity , Zhong wrote, “As a [world-renowned] university for its claimed support of diversity and inclusion, the U of T’s senior management should seriously reconsider its proposal to cut down health benefits for us contract academic workers.”

As a racialized international student, Zhong believes that “maintaining health care benefits is essential to protect marginalized and racial ized teaching staff from overworking culture.” She added that, “If the cut-down is implement ed, we will be indirectly FORCED to work more hours, which will be most likely to distract us from pursuing our research, other academic and life goals.”

Established in 1973, CUPE 3902 was the first legally recognized union of TAs in North America. Over the past 50 years, the union has signed 19 collective agreements with the university and striked on four occasions to achieve contracts.

CUPE 3902 partners with other unions, stu dent coalitions, and U of T employees to op pose increases in tuition, minimize effects of provincial cuts on U of T employees, and pro mote balanced governance that favours stu dents as well as employees.

CUPE 3902 is organizing against the pro posed cuts to health care. In an email to The Varsity , CUPE 3902 President Amy Conwell explained that the reductions in coverage would harm over 9,000 student workers in the union’s Unit 1 division, as well as the Unit 7 division.

Unit 7, previously known as CUPE, Local 3907, represents almost 300 graduate as sistants at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Even if a student has held a gradu ate assistantship in the previous year, they are still considered a CUPE 3902 Unit 7 member. According to CUPE 3902’s website, the Unit 7 Collective Agreement focuses on the “rights and responsibilities of the Union, bargainingunit members and the Employer.”

“Student-workers are under immense pres sure to make ends meet while finishing their degrees. Add the ongoing mental health crisis at the University of Toronto, the pandemic, and now inflation and many student-workers are barely keeping afloat,” Conwell added. “Re ductions to benefits levels would mean further financial pressure and unmet medical needs, and so we are looking to find a way forward that maintains current benefit levels.”

Members of the affected divisions, Units 1 and 7, developed a “joint, multi-step plan” to oppose any benefit cuts. “The University can expect an exceptionally organized base of stu dent-workers in the next round of bargaining and strike preparation,” wrote Conwell.

Over 500,000 international students will be able to work more hours off campus. NICHOLAS TAM/THEVARSITY

Ontario government proposes bill to ban NDAs between perpetrators and institutions

Policy unlikely to directly affect U of T’s policies

Jessie Schwalb Assistant News Editor

Content warning: This article discusses sexual as sault.

On October 27, the Ontario provincial government introduced a bill that would prohibit universities from signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with staff and professors found to have sexually harassed or assaulted students and allow univer sities to fire perpetrators without severance pay.

Although the bill won’t directly affect U of T’s poli cies and only addresses faculty on student sexual violence, the PEARS project supports the bill for drawing attention to the issue of campus sexual violence. According to a survey conducted by Sta tistics Canada, roughly one in seven women stu dents asked in 2019 indicated they’d been sexually assaulted while in university.

Proposed legislation

Ontario Colleges and Universities Minister Jill Dun lop introduced the Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act to the provincial leg islature on October 27. The bill aims to address staff sexual assault at public colleges and univer sities and private career colleges. If passed, the legislation would ban NDAs between universities and their staff found to have committed an act of sexual abuse. It would also allow universities to fire perpetrators without notice or termination pay and prohibit universities from rehiring employees who resigned or were fired due to sexually abusing a student.

“This is really about protecting students,” said Dunlop, in an interview with The Waterloo Record “It’s something we all stand together on, ensuring that students are protected from sexual miscon duct, whether that’s from faculty and staff or from other students.”

Impact at U of T

In an email to The Varsity, a U of T spokesperson wrote, “The University strongly supports the spirit of this proposed legislation, and believes that our policy and practices are in compliance with it.”

“The University does not enter into non-disclo sure agreements with parties involved in a sexual violence process,” wrote the spokesperson.

According to the university’s current Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, individu als found to have committed an act of sexual vio lence may be relocated, suspended, or terminated, depending on the “nature of the offence and any mitigating or aggravating circumstances.” The uni versity notifies any faculty or librarians accused of sexual assault of the decision in their case and dis ciplinary measures taken against them.

Some employees at U of T, including part-time faculty, are not entitled to severance pay if they are terminated for an act of sexual violence, among other conduct-related violations. However, the university’s collective agreement with the United Steelworkers, a labour union at U of T, entitles the almost 5,000 staff-appointed full- and part-time administrators and technical employees to sever ance pay, and neither the contract nor the univer sity’s sexual violence policy exclude staff fired for committing sexual harassment from this compen sation. The act doesn’t require universities to stop providing notice or severance pay to perpetrators, so the legislation wouldn’t necessarily impact these policies.

However, the bill may affect U of T indirectly. In its response to the most recent review of the policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, U of T indicated that it would develop a process to share and receive information from other institutions about whether potential hires were found guilty of sexual misconduct. The policy, which was sched uled to come into effect this academic year, relies on other institutions to share this information. The

proposed Ontario legislation could increase trans parency about the previous actions of hirees by prohibiting NDAs, which would help avoid ‘passing the harasser.’

Reactions

The Varsity spoke with executives from the Pre vention, Empowerment, Advocacy, Response, for Survivors (PEARS) Project, a grassroots, traumainformed group providing support for survivors of sexual violence across U of T’s three campuses. “I was very pleased to see that further attention is be ing paid to the issue of sexualized / gender-based violence in post secondary, as it is so often disre garded,” wrote Micah Kalisch, founder and director of PEARS, in an email to The Varsity

However, Kalisch has concerns about the imple mentation of the policy. “We have seen [that] what is written in our current policy doesn’t always align with what occurs in practice. For example, if the university is mandated to remove the use of NDAs, it is possible they may continue to use an alterna tive non-adjudicative resolution which essentially does the same thing; silence the survivor,” they wrote.

Bec Brydon, outreach director for PEARS, also has concerns about the legislation’s implementa tion. “The main issue I see from this legislation is that discipline is not guaranteed, even if someone has been found guilty of committing sexual and/ or gender-based violence,” they wrote. The legisla tion opens the possibility of universities disciplining staff, but does not require that they do so.

Kalisch also pointed out that the legislation doesn’t address student against student or staff against staff sexual violence. According to the 2019 Survey on Individual Safety in the Postsec ondary Student Population, which tracks sexual violence in Canadian universities and colleges, the vast majority of students who reported experienc ing unwanted “sexualized behaviours” said that

“Xi Jinping, Step Down”: International students rally behind Sitong Bridge protests

dents handed out flyers and talked to passersby, some even dressing in a mock Chinese COVID-19 tester’s uniform in protest of CCP’s policies.

other students were the perpetrators. Although the data about men students were unreliable, only two per cent of surveyed women students who indicat ed having been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months identified the perpetrator as a supervisor, coach, professor, or teaching assistant.

Brydon hopes to see legislation that provides greater support to survivors of sexual violence, such as counselling. The U of T Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre doesn’t directly provide counselling, although its mandate includes connecting individuals to outside counseling ser vices.

However, Kalisch points out that policy is not the only solution to address sexual violence. “Policy is only one of the many tools required to eradicate rape culture. Everyone has a responsibility and a role to play,” they wrote.

If you or someone you know has been affect ed by sexual violence or harassment at U of T:

• Visit safety.utoronto.ca for a list of safety resources.

• Visit svpscentre.utoronto.ca for informa tion, contact details, and hours of operation for the tri-campus Sexual Violence Preven tion & Support Centre. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-978-2266 or by email at svpscentre@utoronto.ca.

• Call Campus Safety Special Constable Ser vice to make a report at 416-978-2222 (for U of T St. George and U of T Scarborough) or 905-569-4333 (for U of T Mississauga)

• Call the Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Cen tre at 416-323-6040

• Call the Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre at 416-495-2555

• Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 866-863-0511

“come out and talk to [their] peers” in order to raise awareness about human rights. “To avoid intimida tion, we want to show that it is important to speak out and stand out,” the organizer said.

Tony Xun Associate News Editor

On October 21, U of T approximately 25 students gathered in front of Sidney Smith Hall and the Ba hen Centre in protest of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) policies. Over the course of the CO VID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government has continued to submit its citizens to authoritarian rule at the expense of personal liberties and rights.

Under its “zero-COVID” policy, the Chinese government has shut down its national borders, implemented strict lockdowns on entire cities, and restricted domestic travel in an attempt to reduce COVID cases to zero. These restrictions are com

bined with other measures to prevent the spread of COVID. For example, in August 2021, this zerotolerance policy resulted in thousands of healthcare professionals working 24-hour shifts over a 72hour period to test all 11 million residents of Wuhan for COVID following the discovery of several cases.

On October 13, a lone demonstrator hung ban ners at Beijing’s Sitong Bridge criticizing China’s “zero-COVID” policy and calling for elections in Chi na. Though the demonstrator, who became known as “Bridge Man,” was quickly arrested, his mes sage generated a wave of international support, including at U of T. Under the name of “U of Ters for the Hero of Sitong Bridge,” students demonstrated in support of Bridge Man and his views. U of T stu

Posters calling for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s resignation and an end to zero-COVID policy have been held up at universities across the world. Many echo the lines hung at Sitong Bridge; “Life not zeroCOVID,” “We want freedom, not lockdowns; elec tions, not rulers,” and “We want dignity, not lies.”

The protest

On June 4, 1989, the largest protest movement against CCP governance was crushed by state authorities at Tiananmen Square. UK documents released in 2017 state that the Chinese army killed 10,000 in the crackdown. According to the BBC, Chinese figures from 1989 place the death count at 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel. Ever since, pro democracy dissidents have strug gled to make their voices heard in China. Many dis sident groups have relocated overseas, including to Toronto.

During the October 21 event, U of Ters for the Hero of Sitong Bridge called for greater aware ness among Chinese students in Canada. A flyer handed out at Sidney Smith calls for readers to in form themselves about the Chinese government’s authoritarian policies. “We shall not respond to one person’s bravery with silence,” it read. The group also chanted “Stop Xi Jinping” and “Fight for free dom” at the demonstration.

One organizer, a fourth-year international rela tions student who wished to stay anonymous due to safety concerns, spoke to The Varsity: “This protest is hosted by Chinese international students who want to advocate for human rights and de mocracy in China.”

During the protest, the organizers aimed to

U of Ters for the Hero of Sitong Bridge aimed to mobilize students who might not normally par ticipate in activism. “Chinese international students have always been stereotyped as apathetic or ex tremely pro-government,” said the organizer, but they believe that many are “putting on a facade” of Chinese patriotism.

Fears of retaliation

Many Chinese international students are reluc tant to speak up, fearing consequences for their families that are still living in China. The anonymous organizer told The Varsity that “there have been incidents of students’ [families] being harassed be cause of their activism.” They noted that these oc currences have a “chilling effect” on the ChineseCanadian community, deterring them from voicing their opinions in fear of reprisal.

Organizers hoped for further cooperation with U of T student groups in the future, saying that they are open to hosting joint events. They called for student groups to “educate their members.”

The anonymous organizer highlighted the Uni versity of Toronto Students Union’s (UTSU) support for their goals. They said the UTSU has “done a fantastic job” at the annual commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, and that they should “keep up with the good work.”

Previous UTSU statements have faced criticism for their support of Uyghur and Muslim students. The USTU’s Instagram account was hacked on July 25, when individuals took down a statement condemning Chinese persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.

“No man is an island,” the anonymous organizer said, echoing a quote by English poet John Donne. “In this time of great darkness and uncertainty, it is imperative that we support each other and elevate each other’s voice.”

Chinese students at U of T speak out against political repression despite fears of retaliation

Downtown Legal Services celebrates its 50th anniversary

U of T’s community legal clinic holds two panels to mark the occasion

Kyla Cassandra Cortez Lead Copy Editor

This year, the Downtown Legal Services (DLS) clin ic celebrated its 50th anniversary. The clinic serves thousands of low-income individuals and students in the GTA each year while offering students ways to develop their skills and advocacy.

DLS and its services

The clinic offers legal services to low-income com munities and U of T students and focuses on six fields of law — namely criminal law, employment law, family law, refugee and immigration law, hous ing law, and university affairs. The DLS clinic is staffed by volunteers, U of T student caseworkers, and staff lawyers. DLS handled over 100 cases in the last year and serves almost 2,000 clients an nually.

The clinic has three satellite clinics, which are lo cated at Evangel Hall Mission, Fred Victor Women’s 24/7 Drop-In, and Church of the Redeemer. The clinic sends caseworkers to these locations to pro vide other support such as food, health care, and shelter in community locations.

DLS also provides student programs for those enrolled in the university’s Faculty of Law, where

they can obtain credits, gain volunteer experi ence, and work for one term, a full academic year, or during the summer. As caseworkers, students deal with clients and cases while supervised by the clinic’s staff lawyers and director.

Impacts on the U of T community

In an interview with The Varsity, the director of the DLS clinic, Prasanna Balasundram, said that the clinic significantly impacts the U of T community. He explained that the clinic’s diverse services have aided students by providing legal services and offering them opportunities to advance their aca demic careers.

“There is the U of T community that gets served as clients… there’s also the U of T community of law students who come to the clinic and have this experience of learning while working on these cases. And we’ve had a significant impact there as well,” said Balasundram to The Varsity

Justin Nathens, a second-year law student and a DLS caseworker, has represented community members and U of T students in the division of Criminal Law and University Offences. “In working with the clinic and the Criminal Law division, I have been able to gain experience in a practice of law that aligns with my politics and affirm my interest

in criminal defence,” he wrote in an email to The Varsity

Fatima Aamir, a caseworker in the Immigration/ Refugee Law Division, worked full time during the summer term and is continuing her full-time work this fall semester. She wrote in an email to The Varsity that “her time at DLS has shown her how collaborative the legal field is.” She continued, “I never really felt that way studying at law school in my classes, but truly strong legal arguments are created in conversation with so many people and there's so much room for creativity there, which has been really exciting to see.”

Grayson Alabiso-Cahill, who is in his final year at the Faculty of Law, told The Varsity in an email that his time at DLS has helped him “become a better person.” He explained that “Working in the clinic deepened my understanding of how power and privilege perpetuate oppression, including through the law. My time at DLS solidified my commitment to working alongside poor and working-class com munities in the struggle for liberation.”

“My DLS experiences have been the highlight of my time in law school,” wrote Alabiso-Cahill.

Celebrations

The clinic celebrated its 50th university with two

panel discussions about the clinic’s impacts over the years. The first panel was held virtually on March 31 and the second panel was a hybrid event on October 20 with approximately 100 inperson attendees, all alumni of the clinic. Notable alumni were Supreme Court Justice Sheila Martin and one of Canada’s foremost refugee and immi gration practitioners, Barbara Jackman.

Upcoming plans

According to Balasundram, DLS has a variety of plans for the near future, as the clinic wishes to maintain and refine its provided services and be come closer to the members it serves.

In addition, he looks forward to expanding its services. “Our hope is to be able to expand into some other areas of law, including doing maybe some income support work [and] maybe doing some prison outreach, so trying to serve popula tions that are currently detained at various facilities in the GTA,” Balasundram told The Varsity

One of Balasundram’s goals for the clinic is to facilitate a premier educational experience for law students who are volunteers or caseworkers.

“One of the things that we’re going to be looking to do is to make sure that our pedagogy — how we teach — is aligned with the best practices in clinical legal education.”

Times Higher Education ranks U of T 18th in the world

Announcement follows QS ranking of 34 from June

Alana Boisvert Associate News Editor

On October 12, Times Higher Education (THE) published its World University Rankings 2023 Re port. U of T ranked 18 out of 1,799 universities across 104 countries, a spot it has maintained for four consecutive years.

Claire Baumforth, the THE marketing director, wrote in an email to The Varsity that THE World University Rankings “judge research-intensive uni versities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.” Knowledge transfer refers to the process that allows information — including research re sults, scientific findings, technology, and data — to be accessed by different stakeholders.

This annual ranking is done in partnership with Elsevier, an academic publishing company in Am sterdam.

How THE ranks universities

Thirty per cent of a university’s THE rank is based on its number of citations, 18 per cent on a reputa tional survey, six per cent on research income, and six per cent on research productivity.

THE considers citations a separate category outside of their “research” criteria.

U of T received a score of 92.8 on citations and a 93.3 on research out of 100 from THE’s rank ings. In 2020–2021, U of T amassed $1.45 billion in research funds.

An additional 30 per cent of the ranking criteria is based on teaching. Some of the factors that THE uses to rank a university’s teaching abilities are the student satisfaction survey, doctorates-awardedto-academic-staff ratio, staff-to-student ratio, and institutional income.

Baumforth wrote, “The focus of the World Uni versity Rankings has always been on Research. Teaching-focused rankings usually rely on a stu

dent satisfaction survey, which is difficult to con duct on a global scale.”

In 2018, U of T hit its lowest ranking to date, coming in at 22nd. It peaked in 2011 at 17th.

Other university rankings

The THE ranking follows the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University 2023 Rankings that was published in June 2022. In THE’s ranking, Peking University ranked 17th, one place above U of T. In comparison, QS placed Peking University in 12th spot, whereas U of T was placed 34th overall.

According to QS, U of T is eighth overall for un dergraduate programs, but 175th for postgradu ate programs. U of T placed 16th for ranking by subject, and 21st in graduate employability rank ings.

QS’s ranking criteria differs from THE as QS focuses on academic reputation, employer repu tation, faculty student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international students

ratio, international research network, and employ ment outcomes.

In this year’s QS rankings, U of T dipped from its ranking of 26th in 2022.

Changes to THE’s university ranks next year

Last year, Elsevier carried out the Global Aca demic Reputation Survey, which is different from the reputation survey conducted for the research category. The Global Academic Reputation Sur vey is by invitation only and only accessible to experienced, published scholars for comment on perceived prestige in teaching. For the 2023 rank ings, Elsevier conducted the survey in house.

The result is that THE is now able to obtain a larger sample of published scholars as direct re spondents to this survey.

For the 2024 list, THE plans to lessen the im portance of citations for institutions that have an abundance of highly cited papers. This aims to make the rankings fairer to up-and-coming insti tutions. THE will also adjust how it measures inter national outlook and knowledge transfer.

Angad Deol Managing Online Editor

On October 10, 2022, U of T announced that University of Toronto multi-factor authentication (UTORMFA) will be mandatory for all graduate and undergraduate students effective by the new year.

In an email to The Varsity, Isaac Straley, chief information security officer at U of T, wrote that “students will continue to be invited to self-enroll into MFA until the end of December 2022.” He ex plained that students who do not self-enroll “will be automatically enrolled in MFA during the months of January and February 2023.”

MFA was introduced to U of T in October of 2020, but the decision to make MFA compulsory comes as students have been met with increased phishing efforts over the last year. Several online services are also adopting MFA, such as social media sites and banks.

MFA, also called two-step or two-factor verifica tion, adds an additional layer of security to tradition al log-in practices by requiring a ‘second factor’ — the first factor being your username and password — to verify the identity of the person logging in.

This second factor can be one of a range of things, such as a fingerprint, a code received via text or phone call, or a verification app. “[MFA] is the best control to stop fraud and identity theft,” said Straley.

U of T currently uses DUO mobile as the mobile verification app for UTORMFA. When attempting to log into a U of T service, such as Quercus or ACORN, those who are enrolled in MFA will receive a notification on the DUO mobile app to confirm their identity when logging in.

Apple and Android devices both support DUO mobile, which is free of charge on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Students can self enroll online on the Information Security and Enterprise Architecture website, and on a link found on the UTORMFA banner announcement on Quercus.

Other universities that have incorporated MFA into their logins include UOttawa, Laurentian Uni versity, York University, and Waterloo University.

If a student is a victim of a phishing scam, the MFA is activated and sends a prompt through email or the app to the student to confirm their identity, providing another layer of defense.

As of November 4, approximately 25 per cent of the student body had self enrolled. While stu dents continue to sign up daily, Straley added that the measure is not foolproof and said that students should remain vigilant to avoid falling for phishing scams.

A spokesperson from U of T explained that students can report phishing scams they have received “by using the ‘report message’ function in the Office 365/UTMail+ inbox or by contacting report.phishing@utoronto.ca.”

As well, students who are victims of scams should contact their bank and credit card com pany, in addition to Campus Safety or the Toronto Police.

U of T community celebrates Indigenous Education Week

Events themed around “Death and Dying”

Jasmine Ryu Won Kang, Kara Rego Varsity Contributors

From October 31 to November 4, U of T held its Indigenous Education Week, focusing on the theme “Death and Dying.” The events included performances; lectures on systematic racism in health care, collective healing, and day schools; and trainings, and occurred both in person and online.

“Natural Law” lecture

The 2022 Dr. Marguerite (Peggy) Hill Memo rial Lecture on Indigenous Health was held on November 3, with keynote speaker Morningstar Mercredi. The event was presented by the Medi cal Alumni Association, the Office of Indigenous Health at Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health at Women’s College Hospital.

Dr. Jason Pennington, a general surgeon at Scarborough General Hospital and assistant pro fessor at U of T, began by introducing Dr. Margue rite (Peggy) Hill’s remarkable journey in medicine and her profound contributions to patient-centred care. St. Michael’s Hospital anesthesiologist Dr. David McKnight subsequently delivered a land acknowledgment then called up Elder Kawen nanoron Cindy White, who offered a message of thanksgiving before the event’s commencement.

Emily Simmonds, researcher at the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health, then intro duced Mercredi, a multimedia creative and advo cate for the criminalization of the forced and co erced sterilization of Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit women. Mercredi has drawn upon her expertise in numerous channels of artistic expression to raise awareness about systemic racism toward Indig enous communities, particularly in the context of the Canadian health care system.

During her lecture, which was titled “Natural Law,” Mercredi spoke on themes of collective grief, genocide, and healing while sharing her ex periences with the day school system — which the Canadian government and Christian churches

enforced alongside the residential school system. She paid homage to those who did not survive forced sterilization and described the visceral feel ings of devastation that can accompany intergen erational trauma.

Mercredi also acknowledged the work of At torney Alisa Lombard, Dr. Maggie Hodgson, and Buffy Sainte-Marie as sources of inspiration and highlighted the importance of federal Bill S-250, sponsored by Senator Yvonne Boyer, which aims to criminalize forced sterilization.

Simmonds then invited Elder White to join Mer credi in a discussion about the role of art and cer emony in the journey toward healing. At the end of the event, Elder White offered a message of grati tude and closed the event with an eagle song.

Tocani performance

On November 2, the Día de los Muertos Collective presented a performance by the multidisciplinary Latin American group Tocani in collaboration with Hart House and First Nations House. The Dia de Los Muertos Collective is a nonprofit organiza tion comprising four artists who employ a unique blend of music, dance, and visual components to communicate ancient teachings and stories, some of which are centred on Latin America and ancestral mysticism. The performance was a cel ebration and appreciation of both the group’s and Turtle Island’s ancestors, honouring the relation ships between Indigenous cultures.

The musical, dance, and visual elements in the performance, as well as the characters and cos tumes, brought ancient stories, teachings, and contemporary narratives to life. One of the stories focused on the devastating history of residential schools. Other narratives included a story on the journey from youth to old age, as well as a story about wisdom, as symbolized by an owl.

The performance began with a smudging ceremony. The room was then taken over by a combination of percussion and wind instruments — ancient drums, windpipes, and shells — which connected the audience with ancestral sounds and stories. The show was divided into two halves, with a musical interlude provided by two

additional

Other events for the Indigenous Education Week included remote student training on reflect ing on Indigenous Land Acknowledgements and the UTM Indigenous Podcast Club. The Pod cast Club now hosts a bookclub-like event every Wednesday at the UTM Indigenous Centre where

students will listen to a podcast by an Indigenous content creator.

Later this month, the Office of Indigenous Initia tives will hold a two part student training called “Speaking Our Truths: The Journey Towards Rec onciliation.” The event will take place online from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on November 17 and 24.

Students show lack of interest in UTMSU fall by-elections

Lexey Burns Deputy News Editor

The UTMSU’s October Board of Directors (BOD) meeting took place on October 28 and November 1. At the meeting, the BOD ratified the fall by-elec tion results, appointed new directors to commit tees, heard executive reports on the union’s Oc tober events and current initiatives, and introduced upcoming events and initiatives across campus.

By-election results

At the October BOD meeting, the UTMSU ratified by-election results for division directors. Every fall, the UTMSU holds by-elections to appoint two firstyear representatives as Division 1 Directors, two part-time representatives as Division 3 Directors, and one Division 4 Director to represent the Missis sauga Academy of Medicine. The by-election ran from September 19 to October 5.

Out of six candidates, students elected Arnav Nagzirkar and Tham Paweewan to represent Divi sion 1. Chidalu Edchi ran uncontested to represent Division 4, and no part-time students ran to repre sent Division 3.

Of the 318 votes cast, Paweewan received 27 per cent and Nagzirkar gained just under 24 per cent, a total of 87 and 76 votes for each candidate, respectively. Although every UTMSU member is eli gible to vote in by-elections, only 16 students voted for Division 4 candidate Edchi.

As per the UTMSU’s bylaws, the BOD approved the destruction of ballots, but students can still view election results online.

Currently, three students represent Division 1, 11 represent Division 2, and one represents Division 4. No students represent Division 3.

Appointment of committees

After the BOD ratified the election results, the new directors became eligible to join the UTMSU’s wide array of committees.

The BOD appointed Niguel Walker as the Exec utive Review Committee’s Chair. Nagzirkar, Pawee wan, and Eddy Zhang all joined the budget com mittee, while the Policy and Procedures Committee gained members Cyrus Mena, Annie Bhaskar, and Nagzirkar. The BOD also elected Walker, Moham med Safwan Zahid, Edechi, and Paweewan to the Organizational Development and Services Com mittee; Nagzirkar and Zahid to the Green Grants Committee; Robert Le, Zinah Alsleman, and Nag sirkar to the Bursary Committee; Bhaskar, Alsle man and Mena to the Elections and Referenda Committee; and Charlotte Wang, Le, Zahid, and Paweewan to the Clubs Committee.

Executive reports

At the meeting, the UTMSU’s president and vice presidents presented reports detailing the work they have been doing and highlighted upcoming events and initiatives.

Suraqa Noor, vice-president university affairs, re flected on academic advocacy and noted that the UTMSU’s “lobby week” will occur during the winter semester.

According to Noor, the UTMSU met with Am rita Daniere, interim vice-principal, academic and dean, to call on the university to extend the credit/ no credit period. Noor explained that they decided to lobby for this change because “a lot of students have raised concerns about how the credit/no credit deadline is on the last day of classes, which does not really give them much time to decide on whether it is feasible to credit no/credit the course given that they still have an exam left.”

Noor is also working with the Study Room Working Group and the Dean of Student Affairs, Mark Overton, to address the lack of individual and group study spaces on campus.

Fatima Yakubi, vice-president student life, high lighted UTMSU’s Hallo-week activities, including its first pub night since 2019.

UTMSU President Maëlis Barre, highlighted events that the UTMSU ran during October, in cluding a banner drop on October 24 in the Davis building. The banner drop was part of the union’s “Education For All” campaign, which focuses on reducing university tuition fees, especially for inter national students.

Barre and Reagan Roopnarine, vice-president equity, both sit on the UTMSU’s food advisory committee. According to Barre, they are currently lobbying UTM to lower food prices and provide services “that are diverse and accessible for stu dents.”

The UTMSU is also reviewing U of T’s sexual vio lence and sexual harassment policy. “As it stands,

[the policy is] not survivor-centric,” said Barre. The UTMSU was present at the “Too Little Too Late” Protest held by the Prevention, Empowerment, Ad vocacy Response for Survivors project in Septem ber, which condemned U of T’s acceptance of the sexual violence policy review recommendations.

Upcoming events

The UTMSU’s Annual General Meeting will be held on November 24. Other upcoming UTMSU events include Job Readiness Support Program events, Audit Training for Campus Groups, and Multicultural Week. In addition, the UTMSU’s pro fessional headshot service is slated to restart in November.

The agenda for the BOD meeting included the presentation and approval of the UTMSU’s audited financial statements. The UTMSU did not receive the statements from the financial auditors by the meeting time; the statements will be presented at a later date.

The November BOD meeting is tentatively scheduled for Friday, November 18.

No candidate for Division 3, only 16 votes for Division 4 candidates

performers who played instruments and sang captivating melodies.

Events for Indigenous Education Week were held on November 3.

KARA REGO/THEVARSITY

The UTMSU held their third BOD meeting in two parts.

LEXEY BURNS/THEVARSITY

Op-ed: The CRCSS at U of T is problematic U of T’s Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Organizations violates democracy

Justin Patrick Varsity Contributor

U of T’s Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Societies (CRCSS) is designed for complaints about student organizations that cannot be resolved at the student society level. I believe this process is not conducive to stu dent democracy.

Legitimacy issues

U of T’s Policy on Open, Accessible and Dem ocratic Autonomous Student Organizations states, “The CRCSS Chair will be a Univer sity of Toronto faculty, staff or alumni member appointed by the University Affairs Board on the recommendation of the University Affairs Board Striking Committee with experience in dispute resolution.”

In my view, this criterion for appointing the CRCSS Chair violates student democracy — the Chair is not a student, is not chosen by stu dents, and yet has a vote on CRCSS Panels. The amount of experience in dispute resolution needed for the position is also very vague.

Furthermore, the policy states that the four “CRCSS Panel student members will be drawn from a pool of students consisting of an ap pointee from each Student Society,” and that “The Chair will select the students for each Panel.” This is not only problematic because of how the CRCSS Chair is selected, but also because it allows the opportunity for students to make decisions regarding U of T student or ganizations that they have no jurisdiction over — such as undergraduate students having power over how graduate student union affairs are conducted.

How long should it take?

While the policy states that complaints shall be considered by the CRCSS Panel in a timely

manner, there is no specified timeframe. While summaries of past CRCSS decisions are post ed online, the length of time it took from the submission of each complaint to the CRCSS’ decision is not provided. This ambiguity is problematic because some types of com plaints, such as election complaints, require quick turnarounds due to the short duration of elections.

For example, a UTSU general election must occur between February 1 and March 31 of each year. I believe it would be beneficial to both the Student Organization and the complainant for the CRCSS to be required to make decisions regarding elections within the same semester, before the end of the elections, to help ensure that any necessary disqualifications, reinstate ments, or other changes can be made before the beginning of the next elected term.

No anonymity

If there are extreme cases where student de mocracy has failed and students want to ap peal a decision to the CRCSS, there is no op tion for anonymous disclosure. Since CRCSS rulings can have serious financial implications for student organizations, those in power in a student organization are likely not going to be happy with the complainant. This dynamic could thus expose the complainant to risk of reprisal from those they are complaining about.

In 2017, there were threats made against students that spoke out against the failed elec toral system within the Durham College stu dent association. This goes to show how toxic student government disputes can become. If a similar situation ever happens in a student or ganization at U of T, could the CRCSS process ensure that filing a CRCSS complaint does not risk exposing a student to violence? While Student Code of Conduct complaints may be an option to resolve issues between students,

they are not anonymous either and cannot be used for issues with nonstudents involved in student organization spaces.

Solutions

Given the issues regarding legitimacy, unclear timeframes, and the lack of an anonymous dis closure process, in addition to previous oppo sition from students, the CRCSS should either be dismantled or substantially reformed.

There are multiple ways that the CRCSS process can be improved to provide greater re spect for the legitimacy of student democracy while empowering students to challenge per ceived injustices within student organizations.

Instead of a university-run council, appeal processes can be created with provincial, na tional, and international student governments that are put in place through student democ racy. Since these student governments would also democratically represent U of T students, the appeal bodies would have appropriate ju risdiction.

A process could also be established that al lows students and student organizations to apply for funding from the university for legal

action regarding alleged student organization injustice. This would help ensure a high level of fairness by involving courts and related legal processes, removing the onus from university bodies to make rulings, and alleviating socio economic barriers that students and student organizations may face that prevent them from being able to take legal action.

The CRCSS process could be better codi fied with clear criteria justifying certain rulings, such as recommending the withholding of Stu dent Organization fees. There should be clear deadlines for when the CRCSS should make a decision. Full details of CRCSS complaints and decisions, or at least as much as possible, should be made publicly available online instead of just summaries.

At the very least, an anonymous disclosure process should be created to protect complain ant identities so they do not risk reprisal for speaking out.

The rising cost of living in Toronto is hurting students Inflation is

raising the prices of everything across Canada

Hiba Faisal Varsity Contributor

I often look back at all the times I used to joke about having $5 in my bank account, and I want to kick myself, because now I do only have $5 in my bank account. To be honest, sometimes I think it’s my own fault that I’m in this situation, but then I realize that the prob lem may not be just me, but the insane cost of living in Toronto.

The cost of living throughout Canada, and Toronto in particular, is on the rise and be coming a serious problem for students. The average price of goods rose seven per cent from August 2021 to 2022 and over the last 12 months, grocery prices have increased by 10.5 per cent. In terms of rent, this year, land lords can raise their rent by 2.5 per cent, which is the highest increase guideline in Ontario in a decade. It seems that inflation is hitting To ronto and it’s hitting hard.

For students, the harsh truth is that living in Toronto simply isn’t affordable. For instance, I find it difficult to eat out on a student budget. Preparing my own meals and cooking at home is the most affordable way for me to consume food. Even then, I always find myself avoid ing looking at my receipt from Loblaws. The excessive hike in prices is just too painful to acknowledge.

It’s safe to say that inflation isn’t getting any better anytime soon, and if you too are a stu

dent, then I’ve got some bad news for you. Currently, as of September 2022, inflation in Canada is at 6.9 per cent. Last year, inflation was at an annual increase of 3.4 per cent. As students, we all know the way it goes. Most of us are on student budgets, and for the most part, we are pretty broke. The particularly sig nificant inflation this year only makes it more difficult for students to pay for daily costs.

To accommodate these rising costs, stu dents might avoid doing their laundry for two

weeks because they can’t afford detergent. Other times, they might have no choice but to stay at home and miss out on events with their friends because they can’t afford to go out. Students might not even be able to af ford mandatory textbooks for classes, which affects quality of education and access to re sources.

There have been many instances myself where I find myself walking home at odd hours because a $30 Uber ride is just impossible for

me to take. Lastly, the rising cost of living in Toronto severely affects mental health. It’s hard to live in a world where everything revolves around money. Even simple tasks like hang ing out with friends will require some form of money spent.

Not all hope is lost. According to the Fi nancial Post, the Canadian government has announced an initiative that consists of three different measures that will make life more af fordable. The measures in the bill include dou bling Goods and Services Tax Credit for six months, providing dental benefits to children under 12 and delivering a one-time $500 to 1.8 million renters struggling with cost of hous ing. Students in particular will be supported through the Canada Student Grant, which will be doubled until July 2023. They will also be suspending interest on Canada Student Loans up till March 2023.

However, students need more initiatives like these from the government of Canada. Every one knows that student life often comes with living on a strict budget, but it should not also come with looming debt that extends far be yond graduation. The harsh truth is that the financial pressures of post-secondary educa tion places substantial strain on students, es pecially those from low-income households.

Faisal is a fourth-year student at Univer sity College double majoring in English and po litical science and minoring in history.

Justin Patrick is a third-year PhD student in edu cational leadership and policy at the Ontario In stitute for Studies in Education. He serves as the President of the Global Student Government.

The CRCSS responds to complaints about student organizations. ZEYNEP POYANLI/THEVARSITY

Hiba

Post-secondary students cannot cope with the financial pressures of inflation.

The first-past-the-post Canadian electoral system has got to go

Canada’s current electoral system is undemocratic

Lucas Sousa Varsity Contributor

What Canadian elections lack in pomp and circumstance, they make up for in agility and electoral drama. From what I know of Canadian elections, rarely do they pass without some dis course over the legitimacy of how we elect our representatives. Neither provincial nor federal elections are exempt from this discourse and the most recent topic of discussion is Québec.

On October 3, François Legault, the incum bent premier, and his party, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), won a stunning majority in the National Assembly of Quebec in the province’s general election. While the party’s victory in se curing 90 out of 125 seats was impressive, the numbers fail to add up to a fair victory. The CAQ won 72 per cent of the National Assembly on 41 per cent of the total vote.

The next four largest parties in Québec re ceived a combined 57.3 per cent of the vote that only amounted to a measly 35 seats, which is equivalent to 28 per cent of the Na tional Assembly altogether. Among these four parties, the Conservative Party of Quebec re ceived 12.9 per cent of the total vote but failed to win any seats.

You may be asking, what impact does Qué bec’s electoral practices have on U of T stu dents? Simply put, the electoral failure in Qué bec is far from an isolated case, as we see the same phenomenon in Ontario. In the provincial elections earlier this year, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won two thirds of the seats at Queen’s Park with 83 seats out of a possible 124. However, they only won 41 per cent of the total vote. On the other hand, in the 2021 federal election, the Liberal Party was 10 seats short of a majority in the House and even lost the popular vote to the Conserva

tives, with only 32.6 per cent compared to the Conservatives’ 33.7 per cent.

We keep seeing this broken system over and over again, in which Canadians get governments they didn’t vote for and don’t want in power.

The first-past-the-post system that Canada uses across all elections is inherently unfair. In this system, candidates do not get elected by the majority of their area’s voters. Instead, offi cials are elected once they have more votes than their competitors. While this may sound demo cratic, the reality is that a candidate in a fourcandidate race could be elected with only 26 per cent of the popular vote. This is hardly fair.

While this system occasionally results in a candidate receiving a majority of the votes in their riding, that is much rarer than it should be. According to Élections Québec, only 46 of the

JULIEN BALBONTIN/THEVARSITY

125 seats in the election earlier this month were won by a candidate who received more than 50 per cent of the vote in their riding.

Elected officials should be chosen by a ma jority of those they represent, not by a portion of it. A system where plurality of the vote re sults in a winner is undemocratic. This winnertakes-all model leaves people behind and silences their voices within their own commu nities. Continuing this system keeps govern ments that the people don’t want in power.

Although Doug Ford’s education cuts and Bill 124 — the law that restricts public em ployees to a one per cent raise in annual sal ary — have not been received well, the bro ken electoral system keeps us from electing a government that can develop better policies than Ford’s government.

In Québec, the Legault government’s use of Bill 21, which prohibits individuals from wear ing religious symbols at work, and Bill 96, which reinforces the use of French throughout the province, clearly violates charter rights. However, the Québec electoral system allows Legault’s majority in the provincial assembly to use the notwithstanding clause to override the constitutional rights of minority popula tions in the province.

The only way to get rid of the undemocratic nature of these governments and their poli cies is to reform our electoral system.

We got close to changing our electoral practices with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In his 2015 campaign, Trudeau campaigned for electoral reform for the same reasons I have outlined. However, the election reform promises were unclear and solutions were abandoned because they were too difficult to implement.

But is that fair to Canadians? We deserve good governments, but it cannot happen when the solution is deemed “too hard” and not worth the political capital. Good governments do not ignore millions of voters. Democracy should mean that the people in power have been elect ed by the majority of the population.

The only way forward is a mixed-member proportional system where we have two types of MPs — some who represent the constituen cies and others who represent Canadians and their political opinions.

This way, people who are political minorities in their areas still have a voice, like a Conser vative voter in downtown Toronto or a Liberal voter in Saskatchewan. They may not have their vote represented locally, but it will be rep resented nationally. Canada being such a vast geographical area means that political opinion may vary drastically across the country. Hence, elections should acknowledge this by system atically embedding both regional and political differences into the system.

We can no longer carry on with these bro ken electoral systems. The political landscape needs to be changed. Canadians deserve better.

Letter to the Editor: The StART program is rooted in diversity and inclusion

Re: Toronto’s Concrete Galleries

Randy McLean Varsity Contributor

On October 30, The Varsity published an arti cle on public artwork in Toronto that articulated the critically important principle of having art ists from diverse backgrounds showcased in the public realm throughout the city. However, it did not accurately present the role of Stree tARToronto (StART) in achieving this outcome.

The StART program is rooted in diversity and inclusion. Every year, StART commissions hundreds of artists, photographers, videog raphers, curators, caterers, and crew from a diversity of backgrounds in age, sexual orien tation, race, religion, socioeconomic status, Indigenous/non-Indigenous status, and eth nicity. Diverse representation — which includes diverse art styles as well as diverse artists — is at the core of the program.

To ensure diverse life experiences and per spectives are incorporated for each art call, artists are recommended by an independent, community-based Advisory Panel which is it self composed of members with diverse back grounds from various communities. That is to say that artists are not selected by a commit tee from the City of Toronto.

To increase the number of artists from tradi tionally underrepresented communities, StART has issued multiple art calls exclusively for art ists identifying as female and for artists identi

fying as Indigenous. StART’s ‘Just Us’ art calls are specifically focused on creating murals in support of Black Lives Matter and justice for Indigenous Peoples. ‘Just Us’ is curated to highlight social injustice, equity, race relations, and community engagement.

In addition to commissioning diverse art installations throughout the city, StART has established a career development ladder for artists to move from painting small-scale projects to small walls, larger walls and all the way to murals on 10+ storey buildings. The program also showcases artists in social and traditional media art forums such as To ronto Outdoor Art Fair, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), events at Yonge-Dundas Square, and photographic exhibitions at art galleries. The TIFF exhibit this year included live-on-street painting and concrete barriers with graphic vinyl wraps designed by diverse ly abled artists.

This year, StART is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and we are very proud of our demonstrated and deliberate commitment to diversity and inclusion. We often refer to the ‘class picture’ of artists with whom we have the honour to work. We are certain that this class picture reflects the diversity of the city.

Randy McLean is the manager of Neighbour hood Projects, StreetARToronto at City of To ronto Transportation Services.

Lucas Sousa is a fourth-year student at UTSG.

The StART program helps local Toronto artists showcase their art. NICHOLAS TAM/THEVARSITY

Sarah Stern

Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article contains descrip tions of physical and sexual violence.

On September 21, Netflix aired Dahmer – Mon ster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a short series that depicts the life of Jeffrey Dahmer, who mur dered 17 young men before getting arrested and convicted of homicide. Dahmer notoriously muti lated these young men and used their bodies as objects for his sexual gratification. Through his cruel actions, Dahmer denied these young men an adult life, the chance to grow old, and, most disturbingly, human dignity.

Despite the pain Dahmer inflicted on his vic tims and their families, the Netflix series does not pay tribute to victims. Instead, the series is a gruesome portrayal of Dahmer’s actions that glamorizes murderous behaviour. From the cin ematic effects to the famous cast in the series, it is clear that the entertainment industry has no interest in respecting victims of violence. Instead, the industry cares more about romanticizing vio lence so that it can line its own pockets.

Victims of violence and the true crime in dustry

The Dahmer series quickly rose to number one on Netflix, with approximately 56 million house holds streaming the show. Although I find it deeply disturbing, it is unsurprising that upwards of 56 million people are so intrigued by Dah mer’s crimes that they would stomach incredibly graphic scenes that display the dehumanization of his victims. After all, history has shown that people tend to have a morbid curiosity for vio lence.

In a European history class, I recently learned about how the guillotine and decapitations were once treated as spectacles in France. For mem bers of the audience, it was a sensational and captivating experience. The same horrifying curi

osity that urged those spectators forward is what makes viewers so eager to watch the Dahmer series. However, by capitalizing on people’s mor bid curiosity for violence, the true crime industry is actively dehumanizing victims and survivors of violence and reducing their traumatic experi ences to popular culture.

The cruel reality is that Dahmer isn’t the first murder sensationalization piece by the indus try. In January 2019, Netflix released Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a drama film about Ted Bundy, who confessed to and was convicted for 30 murders, and is suspected of more. The series sparked much controversy because its creators were accused of roman ticizing Bundy.

Bundy was played by Zac Efron, who be came famous as Troy Bolton in Disney’s High School Musical franchise, and then went on to be voted the “Sexiest Man Alive” in magazines such as Glamour and People. Given Efron’s sex appeal, there’s no question that the cast ing choice romanticizes a man who assaulted and murdered young women. When Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile was released, relatives of Bundy’s victims were still alive. They were understandably infuriated with the film’s portrayal of Bundy and his victims.

Similarly, after the release of Dahmer, victims’ family members shared that they were not even informed that a Netflix series was to profit off their lived trauma. Where is the dignity? Where is the respect? To what extent do entertainment companies truly care about the impact of the media they release?

Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, a vic tim of Dahmer, shared in a letter to Insider: “It’s sad that [Netflix is] just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.” Isbell voiced her frustration with how Netflix cast an actor identical to her who recites the same testimony she did at trial, yet did not inform her of the se ries or offer any of the film’s profit to the fami lies of victims.

By casting famous celebrities and launching glamourous marketing campaigns for true crime shows and movies, Netflix effectively makes personal experiences impersonal. Viewers do not have to acknowledge that the murder scene they just watched did truly happen; it’s not their trauma.

How should the media treat victims of vio lence?

There is a distinction that must be made be tween informational media about criminality and the exploitation of victims of violence for enter tainment.

The docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich discusses disturbing crimes against women, sexual violence, and pedophilia among a group of the elite. As such, much like the Ted Bundy movie and Jeffrey Dahmer series, this docuse ries exposes horrific criminality. However, the Jeffrey Epstein docuseries is different in that it is a platform — albeit overdue — for survivors to share their experiences. This docuseries does not attempt to vividly recreate the lived trauma

of others. In doing so, it respects survivors and their lived experiences.

What makes the series on Jeffrey Dahmer and the film on Ted Bundy so unsettling, and yet in triguing, is not the cruel actions of these men, but their glamourized and romanticized stories. After all, we could simply turn to a newspaper to read about their crimes, but having an attrac tive and alluring celebrity vividly reenact such morbidly fascinating cases draws us in and thus keeps the true crime industry profitable.

By focusing solely on the stories of killers, the true crime industry effectively silences victims and survivors, and their lived experiences. I’m not saying that we should not document and re port true crime stories, but rather that these con versations belong in informative documentaries, not popular culture series. The media should represent convicted individuals as who they are, and not equate them to celebrities who people admire and emulate.

Sarah Stern is a third-year English and European affairs student at Victoria College.

The true crime industry should stop sensationalizing evil

Netflix commodifies and dehumanizes murder victims

BIEW BIEW SAKULWANNADEE/THEVARSITY

Crossing a line in the sand

Vikram Nijhawan Varsity Contributor

I first ventured into Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed The Sandman comic book series during the winter of 2018. Before then, my main image of its title character wasn’t the overseer of children’s sleep from folklore but the iconic Spider-Man villain of the same name — in hindsight, this confusion was revealing of my literary innocence.

My cousin had recommended The Sandman to me during one of our summer family reunions. I’d always thought that this cousin had stellar taste in books, so I finally decided to vet their recom mendation.

As I explored the series for the first time, I si multaneously became exposed to the existential dread of pursuing an undergraduate English de gree. I’d spent my formative years as a reader devouring comics and superhero stories; I’d im mersed myself in literature I thought was ‘low cul ture.’ This was a sharp contrast to all that awaited me in the classroom; I now found myself studying works that the world collectively considered to be ‘high culture.’

My biggest dread, however, were the classics. I was on nodding terms, at best, with the canoni cal, celebrated works of literature that awaited me in my studies — the painful reminder that my igno rance would follow me into the semester.

Upon arriving at U of T that September, the first connection that I made was with another aspir ing English student, Dan. In our first conversation, he casually mentioned that he was in the middle of reading Don Quixote, a seventeenth-century Spanish novel, for his Vic One class. I nod ded and pretended that I knew what he was talking about whenever he referenced wind mills. The next time we spoke, when he ca sually discussed Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction, my sense of inferiority was only heightened.

Years later, as we got to know each other better, I came to appreciate Dan’s friendship. But back then, the best I could do was tolerate his company. Effortlessly well versed and curious, Dan represented the ideal member of U of T’s English program communi ty — this archetype was everything that I wasn’t. When we both found ourselves in the year-long English course ENG140 — Literature for Our Time, I carefully avoided him throughout the year.

It’s not that I solely blamed students like Dan for my impos ter syndrome — there was also the factor of impressing my uber-cool in structor, nation ally renowned Canadian lit erature

scholar, Nick Mount. Mount began our first lecture by telling us, “If you’re here, I assume it’s only for one reason: you want to know the truth.”

This kind of truth, I’d later learn, was only found in fictional works. It was the kind, Mount would later make me realize, that often lies where we aren’t looking for it. For some, this truth lies in the oldest works of literature; for others, like myself, it can only be contained in a boundary-pushing comic book series from the ’90s.

My introduction to “universal stories”

With his iconic fedora and dramatic classroom persona, Mount could pass as Indiana Jones with academic tenure. He was the kind of professor who played music in class before the start of ev ery lecture, with all the songs being thematically related to the book we were reading in class that week, and he fielded song recommendations from students. He was the kind of professor who made each person in his auditorium feel validated, whether they were a nebbish bookworm or were just looking for a credit.

As great as Mount was, his larger-than-life teaching presence alone wasn’t enough to get me invested in the assigned readings. I spent the following fall semester pretending to read the texts on our syllabus — the anointed “literature of our time” — and preparing something thought ful to say about them. Mount began the course by walking us through the foundational works of modernism: a movement that emerged at the turn of the twentieth century defined by formally ambitious works of fiction espousing universal truths and often reimagining older stories.

The first text that we examined was T.S. Eliot’s infamously cryptic five-part poem, “The Waste Land.” Running at 433 lines, the text felt epic in the literal sense of its length but also epic in the literary sense. In the poem, Eliot draws on a slew of allusions to older stories from myth and literary canon — with helpful explanatory foot notes from the publisher to aid unfamiliar read ers — to portray the fragmented pieces of time less stories that are entrenched in modern life.

Like many first-time readers, I had difficulty understanding or appreciating Eliot’s poem on first brush. But reading the first The Sandman story arc, “Preludes and Nocturnes,” not long af ter, inspired a similar ambivalence. I was expecting Gaiman’s comic to follow the typical ge neric beats of a comicbook superhero story — and in some respects, it does. The story centres on the series’ protagonist, Dream, going on a jour ney to re

trieve his powerful magic items and stopping a supervillain hellbent on destroying the world. Only through further engaging with The Sand man did I realize Gaiman’s broader aims. Taking a leaf from the pages of the modernist handbook, his series draws from timeless stories to enhance the meaning of the stories we tell today. Just as Eliot reinvents the Arthurian “Fisher-King” and the quest for the Holy Grail in “The Waste Land,” so too does Gaiman reinvent the folktale character, the Sandman — who was an eighteenth century German folktale character before becoming a Golden Age DC Comics superhero — into a per sonified version for storytelling.

Even the protagonist’s al ternative name, Morpheus, hearkens back to ancient storytelling; Sandman’s namesake is the Greek god of sleep. The larger ensuing story of The Sandman fol lows Morpheus’ attempts to rebuild his fragmented realm in a mission to restore order and meaning to humanity’s collective imagination. He seeks to make sense of the world through the power of univer sal narrative, just as Eliot attempted to do in his fragmented postwar world through “The Waste Land.”

But I didn’t understand this back then. My literary palate was still develop ing, and the prospect of continuing eight more volumes of a comic series, when I already had a whole list of other assigned texts that I had to pretend to read, was just too much to surmount. I put The Sand man and other comics on hold — but they found a way to catch up with me.

“Many of you may be more familiar with com ics than me,” Mount ad mitted to us at the start of the final lecture of the year. To cap stone our syllabus, at the end of the winter 2019 se mester, Mount included Chris Ware’s Jimmy

JISHNA SUNKARA/THEVARSITY

How Neil Gaiman’s comic books made me appreciate classic literature

Corrigan, a novel-length comic about a superhero-obsessed kid obsessed who refuses to grow up. A frisson of pride and anticipation coursed through my veins as I heard the open ing words. For once, I felt in the know, ahead of the game, or at least that my knowledge was on par with my peers. Soon after, Mount asked us what comics we read, if any. Some plucky and keen students shared their an swers. I was hesitant to speak out of turn, being a perennial classroom wallflower. As a compromise between my shyness and my desire to impress my instructor through my unusually aboveaverage literary knowledge, I approached him after class to share a comic recommen dation. It wasn’t The Sandman though, and in retrospect, that was probably the biggest missed opportunity of my undergraduate career.

Old stories, new forms

The opening line of “The Waste Land” — “April is the cruellest month” — came to feel eerily reso nant months later with the outbreak of the CO VID-19 pandemic. Halfway through my English degree, I was forced, like all my other peers, to continue my studies remotely. I found myself back home, once again living on Sandman’s crescent. Once my classes ended, and in absence of anything else to do during quarantine, I had plenty of time for pleasure reading. In July, Amazon’s company, Audible, released a dramatized audio adaptation of the first three volumes of Gaiman’s comic series. It was simply titled The Sandman, which proved the perfect reen try point for me into the books I had abandoned.

Every day that sum mer, I ventured to the playground swings, situated like an island surrounded by a sea of sand. In a desperate way to escape from my mun dane domestic surround ings, and to try and re capture some innocence and capacity for wonder, I sat and swung away, with Audible’s The Sand man playing in my head phones. On that day, I listened to the book’s final episode, “Dream Coun try.”

As it turns out, even authors of the classics themselves aren’t afraid to buck against the common perceptions of liter ary high culture. Eliot was a no table detractor of Hamlet, and even wrote an es

say titled “Hamlet and his problems.” In the essay, Eliot called the play an “artistic failure”, writing that, “most people probably thought [it] a work of art because they found it interesting, than have found it interesting because it is a work of art.” Eliot ar gued that Shakespeare created his title character to possess excess emotion, which has no equiva lence to the action of the character and the other details of the play.

By contrast, The Sandman features Shake speare in three comics: “Men of Good Fortune,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “The Tem pest.” In these works, Gaiman extends the logic of Shakespeare’s play, disseminating its meaning, and projecting it into new contexts. These pieces stem from Gaiman’s acknowledgment of Shake speare’s pieces as works of art; if his series has an overarching message, it’s the recognition of an old story’s enduring and timeless power.

Nowhere is this better exemplified in The Sand man than in Gaiman’s treatment of William Shake speare, and the series’ landmark 19th issue, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the story, Shake speare agreed to write Midsummer for Morpheus as part of their bargain. Shakespeare and his act ing company travelled through the countryside to perform the play when Morpheus opens a portal between dimensions and invites the fairy realm’s denizens to watch the play. The company pre miers Midsummer for Titania, Oberon, Puck, and many other characters on whom the play is based in attendance. In writing this, Gaiman provides an origin story for Shakespeare’s immortalization in our modern culture, as the English language’s greatest writer, someone who cemented his lega cy through writing universal stories.

The 19th issue of The Sandman sees William Shakespeare staging the premier performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream before an audience of Morpheus and the mythical faerie beings por trayed in the play. The story won the World Fan tasy Book Award in 1991, the first — and only — comic to win the prize.

As he did with the original The Sandman com ics, Gaiman brought an old story to life in a new form, and this time it was in oral form. While the audio drama features a star-studded cast of voice actors bringing each character to life, Gaiman himself, among others, is one of its narrators. The author renders the narrative events from the comic, depicted visually in their original form, into words, and reads them aloud into existence — to quote Shakespeare, Gaiman “turns them to shape and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name.”

Gaiman, like his fictional protagonist Morpheus, and even Shakespeare, demonstrates the trans formative power of storytelling. The episode ends with him sharing two ominous events yet to un fold, through terse narration: “Hamnet Shake speare died in 1596, aged 11. Robin Good fellow’s present whereabouts are unknown.” Then the credits roll.

The Sandman reinforces the idea that the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, inspired him to compose literature’s greatest tragedy that we know all too well today, Hamlet. Gaiman as sembles disparate fragments of narrative — from mythology, history, and great literature — to add meaning to our understanding of life. In The Sand man, Gaiman accomplishes what any great au thor seeks to do; just like his character Morpheus, he uses the power of imagination to shape reality.

I had never read nor watched a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream before listen ing to The Sandman on Audible — but, like the play’s characters, I too felt like I had awoken from a trance I wasn’t even aware of. I walked home after that, my feet grazing the playground sand. Rain had soaked into my clothes, but I couldn’t care. From that moment onward, I started to make my way through all The Sandman comics I had missed, and eventually, Shakespeare’s play too.

The truth in plain sight

“We already have an Eliot, and we don’t need an other one,” wrote Mount in an email to me at the beginning of my undergraduate career. He was attempting to assuage my first-year existential cri sis, one spurred by the thought that if I couldn’t marvel at the canonized literature of our time, I was somehow unfit to be an impactful writer my self.

The single grand truth in “The Waste Land” is contained in two onomatopoeic letters at the po em’s end: “DA.” On their own, these characters are nothing extraordinary — but, like any work of literature, they’re open to interpretation. If readers are willing to go look for this interpretation, then they’ll find what the truth of that work is to them. In hindsight, the truth that I was looking for — the truth that led me to The Sandman — was right there all along, during one of the earlier ENG140 lectures.

“I don’t know what it would take to get 100 per cent on an English essay,” Mount conceded to us in class that afternoon. He drew a breath; a few of my classmates awaited a response with bated breath, but the answer didn’t matter to me. All I knew was that I would leave our classroom in Isabel Bader Theatre content with a final mark somewhere in the 80s range, the usual residue of inspiration from Mount’s words, and an unread comic book on loan from the library, waiting for me when I returned home.

Professor Mount exhaled: “I’d guess you’d have to be Shakespeare.”

SCSU opens 1265 Bistro at UTSC

The SCSU and students weigh in on the new pub-style restaurant

Ceili Reilly & Alyanna Denise Chua Varsity Contributor & UTSC Bureau Chief

In September, the Scarborough Campus Stu dents’ Union (SCSU) opened a pub-style res taurant, 1265 Bistro, on the lower level of the Student Centre at 1265 Military Trail. 1265 Bistro replaced Rex’s Den as the SCSU-owned restau rant at UTSC.

In interviews with The Varsity, SCSU Presi dent Michael Sobowale and Vice-President Op erations Mathooshan Manoharan explained their choices behind the Bistro’s menu items, prices, and design. Students shared their thoughts on the Bistro’s food in interviews with The Varsity

Rex’s Den operated from 2009–2020

Earlier this year, 1265 Bistro replaced Rex’s Den, which operated from 2009–2020. Zuhair Syed, the SCSU president in 2009, was excited about the novelty of the pub restaurant in Rex’s Den at the time. “A campus restaurant and bar has been missing on campus for a while and we’re pleased to again have a place where students can hang out and enjoy,” he said at the opening ceremony of Rex’s Den.

“We’re also trying to enhance UTSC campus life within the academic community, and so the restaurant will be a great place for social and multicultural events,” he said.

However, the SCSU decided to close down Rex’s Den in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants Canada — a non-profit organization that represents over 30,000 food service professionals in Canada — reported that, as of August 2020, around 10 per cent of food service establishments had perma nently closed due to the impacts of COVID-19.

In an interview with The Varsity, Sobowale de scribed the closure of Rex’s Den as initially “tem porary.” He said that after two years, however, the SCSU “felt that this was an opportunity to do

renovations and improve the space.” The SCSU envisioned a more student-friendly restaurant, and its autonomy over the space allowed them student union to create an entirely new restau rant shaped by student feedback.

Behind the scenes of 1265 Bistro’s menu items, pricing, and design Sobowale said that the union had conducted a survey to find out what students wanted to see with the new restaurant. The SCSU then used the survey results to inform the menu items, pric ing, and design of the Bistro.

According to Sobowale, in keeping with the survey, the SCSU added gluten-free and vegan options “to give [students] alternatives so they can eat without going outside of campus to find meal options.” Similar to Rex’s Den’s menu, 1265 Bistro will also continue offering staple pub items like poutine and sandwiches.

In addition, the survey found that students wanted affordable food. To implement this, Manoharan said that the SCSU chose to subsi dize 1265 Bistro’s menu items in order to match the prices of other restaurants at the Student Centre.

“We want to make it even cheaper, if any thing, but it just wouldn’t work for us from an operational perspective,” he added.

The SCSU built the space to be more study friendly. Before, Rex’s Den did not have electri cal outlets for students to charge their devices in, which limited students’ ability to stay at the restaurant for longer periods of time. The SCSU has ensured that there are now electrical out lets available for students to use at the Bistro, as well as long tables to facilitate group study sessions.

The SCSU is working to move 1265 Bistro to online platforms as well, such that students could order food remotely and then pick their orders up, which eliminates wait times. So

bowale said that this measure also aims to accommodate students who are unable to sit down at the restaurant.

JAB Management — a Toronto-based man agement and consulting company that special izes in hospitality operations — played a large role in the rebranding. The firm helped the SCSU do renovations, find furniture, and man age the Bistro in accordance with the SCSU’s vision. It previously helped the SCSU in manag ing Rex’s Den as well.

“Obviously, managing a restaurant, for just a bunch of students, that’s beyond us. We rely on [JAB Management] to give us that technical expertise,” Manoharan said.

Student feedback

David Casseus, a second-year psychology ma jor at UTSC, started working at 1265 Bistro in early September. “It’s been relatively busy,” he wrote in a text message to The Varsity. Casseus explained that he can only attest from his early weekday shifts and “can’t speak for Thursday or Friday.”

“I do think that it’s great that they’re able to provide jobs for students,” he wrote. “Manage ment is great, compared to other restaurants that I’ve worked at.”

The Varsity interviewed students who were dining at the Bistro for their thoughts on the

Bistro’s food and service.

Muatasim Shaik, a first-year management and international business specialist at UTSC, said that the Bistro’s food is overly salty. “[But] I heard from a lot of people that… you can ask [Bistro staff] to reduce the salt.”

Shaik clarified that he only ate food from the Bistro once, and that he may buy from the Bis tro again because “their portions are good.”

Wyatt Jeanveau, a first-year management student at UTSC, confirmed that the Bistro’s food is salty, but that he likes it because he generally likes salty food. “Most of their food is good. I really recommend the fried chicken sandwich.”

The SCSU has posted a survey form at the Bistro where students can provide general feed back. Manoharan said that the SCSU will draw a raffle from the survey respondents, such that students who had filled out the survey could get the chance to win a free meal.

Manoharan specifically wanted to know how long customers had to wait for their food, when they had ordered their food, and what they thought of the food quality, among others. He urged students to fill out the survey when they eat at the restaurant so that the SCSU can im prove the Bistro.

With files from Lexey Burns.

Afra Hameed Varsity Contributor

The toxic notion that the only recipe for success consists of all work and little to no play is em bedded into the minds of Rotman Commerce students right from the start.

Rotman students start their university career under the assumption that they must solely fo cus on academic competition, networking, and joining clubs to build their resumes, so that, in four years, they will land their dream job in con sulting, capital markets, and more.

The Varsity interviewed a number of fourthyear Rotman Commerce students to find out about how they have been coping with Rot man’s hustle culture.

“There is a toxic hustle culture at Rotman, pre dominantly in the first two years that is cultivated in the student community. There is a mindset that there can only be one winner,” said Adnan Khan to The Varsity

Overcoming Rotman’s hustle culture Engaging in resume-building activities can be healthy in moderation, but the problem starts when this mindset takes over every decision to be made. It leads to stress and the feeling of burning out. There is a reason behind why peo ple say that too much of anything is a bad thing. This toxic mentality prevents students from ex

ploring their passions and making the most of their time in the Rotman Commerce program, while taking care of their own mental health.

“In first year, you are like a sponge. You ab

to directly advance their career. By creating a healthy balance, such as by joining a club they are passionate about and taking care of their mental health, they construct a gateway

where you can see everyone posting on Linke dIn and that feeds into the intense culture of the program,” said Georgia Neufeld, a fourth-year commerce student specializing in manage ment. Neufeld is also an athlete on the Varsity rowing team at U of T. She explained that al though it is nice to know where you stand, it is crucial not to constantly compare yourself to others.

One piece of advice Neufeld has for incom ing and current Rotman students is to “try to enjoy the process through university because it does go by really fast.”

How some students found their place Khan is the vice president of the Rotman Com merce Students’ Association (RCSA) — a club based on student advocacy and university expe rience enrichment. He explained that his passion for the student community is why he committed to the club right from his first year to his fourth.

Satvik Gupta is a fourth year commerce stu dent specializing in accounting. He is also the current director of finance for RCSA. In an inter

The Varsity, he explained, “RCSA is a place where everyone is like family, people come from different specializations, but no one talks about work and networking.”

Activities beyond the Rotman clubs could also be the key to personal success. Frantseva takes pride in taking care of herself by doing things she enjoys alongside pursuing her degree. Re cently, she became a part of a Toronto based running community called “Midnight Runners” where like-minded individuals meet every Tues day at 7:00 pm to run six kilometres, participate in group stretches, and just socialize.

“It is something that I am committed to doing every week, and I love it,” said Frantseva.

1265 Bistro is now open at the Student Centre. JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

Arts & Culture

thevarsity.ca/section/arts-and-culture arts@thevarsity.ca

Be the hero of your own story, the master of your own reality

Reilly Varsity Contributor

University can be an overwhelming place. In many ways, it’s a time of transition, change, and entering the unknown. It can be a positive experience for students, but it can also be ac companied by extreme stress and negativity. For most, the workload experienced when entering into university is like nothing they’ve experienced before, and it can especially seem like too much to process for students new to the city.

When I began university, it was the first time I had lived anywhere outside of my childhood home. I went from living in a relatively small town to living in downtown Toronto. I needed a strat egy in place that could allow me to take the most from my classes, and I felt constantly uncomfort able with the pace of the city around me.

Throughout that school year, I felt that I was inflicting stress and tension on myself without any tangible benefit. I didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel — there seemed to be nothing I was striving for. It was hard for me not to get bogged down by every class, every study ses sion, and every assignment.

My frustration and exhaustion built to the point where I knew I needed to make a change. After my first year, I decided to take a break from school entirely and reflect on what exactly I was even doing. Was being at U of T, let alone univer sity, even a positive path for me?

During my time away from school, I realized that higher education was important to me, but that if I was going to gain the valuable education and experience I hoped for, I would need to ad just my approach and my mindset.

Embarking on my journey

I realized that university was an adventure I needed to embark on! Much like Bilbo Baggins leaving Bag End or the daring adventures of Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, I needed to

go on what author Joseph Campbell calls “The Hero’s Journey,” in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces

In the book, Campbell lays out a similar pat tern in the archetype of the ‘hero’ encountered within religious and mythological stories across many cultures. Broadly speaking, this pattern follows a few major steps: the call to adventure, crossing into the unknown, facing trials and challenges, transformation, and returning to the ordinary world with rewards.

Campbell believed that this process was sym bolic of the journey of self-discovery and trans formation that every human being must go on and return from in order to be a fully realized in dividual. If this journey has been recognized as a significant part of development across so many cultures and stories, why not apply it to the chal lenges a student must face and overcome in or der to thrive at university?

Leaving the ordinary world

Before university, I lived in the “ordinary world” of the hero’s journey. This part of the journey can be illustrated by Harry Potter living with the Dursely’s on Privet Drive, for example, before he is whisked away to the world of magic. We see it when Luke Skywalker decides to leave his normal life on Tatooine for the rebellion. In my “ordinary world,” I went to high school, played basketball, and hung out with friends, but I felt like I wasn’t experiencing much of what life had to offer.

However, coming to Toronto, entering classes with over a thousand people, and having to seri ously sit down and study for the first time felt like maybe too much of a jump into what Campbell describes as “the belly of the whale” — the mo ment where Bilbo finds himself in Smaug’s lair, or when Harry meets Voldemort for the first time, surrounded by Death Eaters in a graveyard — the moment where the hero finds themselves in the thick of their adventure.

Applying the mindset that university is a pro cess, during which you will face challenges and difficulties, makes the challenges feel more man ageable. It is your mission to face these chal lenges head-on, triumph over them in any way you can, and transform as a result.

In fact, many heroes have risen from the ashes of the harsh battles of studying. I think of approaching my studies much like Marduk, a Mesopotamian god, approached war. In the blog post The Hero of Heroes: Marduk vs. Tia mat & The Significance of Speech, the author, Chris Mukiibi, echoes this approach, explaining how you can apply Marduk’s strategy in a leg endary battle — during which he defeated the primordial dragon-like chaotic force of the world, Tiamat — to your own life.

In the legend, Tiamat is seeking to destroy the gods, and Marduk volunteers to face her. The conditions are that if he prevails he will become the king of the gods and be given possession of the tablets of destinies. Marduk faces Tia mat, capturing her in his net, slicing her with his sword, and creating the earth and the sky with her body.

Marduk’s act of capturing chaos in a net could be understood as the need to narrow your fo cus and intention while studying. Dividing a text you are reading into manageable sections would then reflect Marduk’s act of slicing Tiamat with the sword. Lastly, using learned information to increase your own knowledge and create new ideas would reflect Marduk’s creation of the earth and heavens using Tiamat’s body.

The treasure

The hope is that you’ll end each year with a bet ter understanding of yourself. At the end of uni versity, not only will there be that internal treasure — the experience, the skills, and the personal understanding that you’ve gained — but also the promise of furthering your future and career opportunities.

That isn’t to say that everyone should become Batman or rush into burning buildings in some grand heroic fashion, but I advise you to chan nel the hero archetype. Everyone faces different circumstances that lead to totally individual chal lenges in life. Many people don’t start university coming from an “ordinary world” — many stu dents have already experienced incredible hard ship and trauma before beginning university. But even if the structure of the hero’s journey doesn’t perfectly fit your life, there is still wisdom that can be found in it. I believe that the pattern within the hero’s story teaches us that there is value to be received from facing “demons” and challenges head-on.

It also doesn’t have to apply just to school — it could be interpreted as the process that you embark on as an individual during university, the opportunity to look into the internal “otherworld” of the subconscious, and conquer the demons that reside within. Whether this is through learn ing how to take care of yourself in the big scary world of Toronto, working through challenges in university counselling, learning how to socialize in new environments, or simply making your own meals, you can always apply the hero archetype to your big challenges. Even one of the great est heroes of all time, the demigod Hercules, dealt with some of the loveliest, menial tasks you could imagine. One of his great ‘Herculean’ labours literally was cleaning years of accumu lated horse dung.

Whatever your challenge may be, detach ing yourself from the current struggle that you are experiencing and looking at it as a means to transform and become the hero of your own story instead is a mindset that will hopefully lead you back to your own Bag End with pockets filled with your dragon-hoarded gold. Become the hero of your own story, master your own life, master of your own universe, and transform into a character that would amaze you if you watched their story on the big screen.

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

Jack

How fanfiction has changed our personal coming of age stories

Milena Pappalardo Varsity Contributor

As a child, Angie Fazekas would sneak down to their parents’ computer in the basement at night and read fanfiction. In an interview with The Varsity, they recalled hastily erasing their browser history once they were done in fear of someone discover ing what they had been reading.

Now they have a doctorate in Women and Gen der Studies with a focus in Fan Studies at U of T, and have drawn from their adolescent experiences to write their dissertation on the topic of explicit fan fiction, under the title, Creative Becomings: Explicit Fanfiction, Reinventing Adolesence and Queer Re lationality

Fazekas’ experience is one that rings true for more people than you may think. Taboo, embar rassing, and often dismissed, to say you enjoy fan fiction is a brave admission. But why do we dismiss something that has contributed to the coming of age of so many people in our generation? Fanfic tion has widely shaped the adolescent inner life of students growing up in the digital age, and scholars like Fazekas argue that it’s time to give this “embar rassing” facet of creative and sexual development the recognition it deserves.

The origins of fanfiction

We can trace fanfiction back to the Star Trek fan dom from the 1960s, which also launched other

staples of fandom communities, like dedicated conventions. A subset of Star Trek fans, most of them women, began writing and distributing fanfic tion among themselves. Before the advent of the internet, fans would maintain this practice by circu lating stories through homemade zines.

The internet gave fans a new frontier for shar ing their work. What began as smaller individu ally run blogs and sites for certain fan works finally culminated in the creation of a community-driven, non-for-profit site called Archive of Our Own (AO3), launched in 2009. The site is operated by the fan community itself and is not subject to censorship or monetization. Thanks to AO3 — as well as other platforms, such as Fanfiction.net and Wattpad — fanfiction has become more accessible than ever. AO3 alone is home to over 10 million fanfiction works across 53,000 different fandoms.

Fazekas added that, during the pandemic, fan fiction readership and writership increased even more since people were stuck and home and in need of a creative outlet. It is during these tran sitional times, between life’s busiest moments, between the release dates of a series’ next instal ment, between the hours of 10:00 pm and 3:00 am, that people turn to fanfiction.

Sexual discovery and fanfiction

The sexual element of fanfiction has contributed to its taboo nature as a genre. The medium’s lack of censorship and accessibility is enough to spark moral panic in parents worried about the plethora of zany sexual narratives that their children might be reading.

However, Fazekas noted that fanfiction is much more than ‘smut’ — erotic content that composes around only 10 to 20 per cent of fanfiction. Fazekas stressed that the difference between fanfiction and

other forms of explicit material is that fanfiction is a “self-driven” form of exploration.

Sexual exploration is an inevitable part of ado lescence, and fanfiction may be one of the more harmless and creative pathways for exploration. “I’m invested in having spaces for young people to explore that aren’t institutional spaces,” Fazekas explained.

It is naïve to assume teenagers learn only about sex and sexuality from their parents or sex-ed classes. At this stage in life, sexual curiosity mani fests itself in different ways in different people; fan fiction is one creative, community-driven outlet for that curiosity. Through fanfiction, people can ex plore without actually enacting their desire. “I’d like there to be a little less taboo about teenagers ac cessing sexual narratives online and reading sexu ally explicit stories,” said Fazekas. “I think there’s real value in that for people figuring out who they are.”

Self-discovery and fanfiction

Students who read fanfiction seem to have the same impression, often emphasizing multiple reasons for why they read it. In an interview with The Varsity, Luis Sanchez, a second-year political science student, noted that “[fanfiction authors] devote hours of their life to try to create a story that is convincing and real istic and try to make sure that the characters are as accurate… to the narrative as possible… it doesn’t feel exploitative or it doesn’t feel cheap, because you know most people who are writing it… are just as big a fan as you [are].”

In interviews with The Varsity, Sanchez and Ann Jacobs, a U of T student studying human biol ogy, explained that they both discovered fanfiction in their tween years, with Jacobs coming across it while waiting for the newest Percy Jackson books to come out. During those transitional periods between releases, fanfiction provided the sustenance and community that the two of them were looking for. Fanfiction also represents more specific memo ries for Sanchez and Jacobs, with the former recall

ing that he used to read it in middle school on his school’s Chromebooks after he finished his class work. On the flip side, Jacobs grew up in a very religious environment, and fanfiction allowed her to explore aspects of her life that were taboo in her household.

Furthermore, Fazekas stressed the importance of fanfiction’s impact on LGBTQ+ self-discovery; if young people are questioning their orientation, fan fiction offers both a way of exploring that side of themselves through stories and accessing stories that mainstream media seldom presents.

Fazekas herself wrote self-insert lesbian fanfic tion about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and used their own story to illustrate the benefits of fanfiction in their dissertation, Creative Becomings

Lastly, fanfiction sites offer a low stakes environ ment for creative discovery and development. Writ ers use these sites to practice their writing skills, get feedback from fans, and even gain widespread acclaim without having to go through the traditional publishing process. Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood even publicly endorsed Wattpad in 2012: “Wattpad opens the doors and enlarges the view in places where the doors are closed and the view is restricted. And somewhere out there in Wattpad land, a new generation is testing its wings.”

Fanfiction is popular, not just as crude entertain ment, but as a space for creative and sexual ex pression outside of the confines of our households, classrooms, and peer groups. Of course it can be amateur and embarrassing, a corny indulgence to be enjoyed under the covers on your childhood bed. But fanfiction takes a clandestine place in so many of our hearts — why not recognize its true impact on our coming of age?

EVELYN BOLTON/THEVARSITY

Good food is like a warm hug on chilly autumn days UTSC holds its food truck frenzy for the first time post-pandemic

Jwan Salih Mohamedali Omer Varsity Contributor

Three years ago, while waiting for some of the best shawarma I have ever had, a fellow firstyear student who would become my roommate said something to me that would later define how I think about Scarborough: “Scarborough is the only place in the world where you’ll find a sha warma, jerk chicken, and sushi spot in the same plaza — and they would all be equally as good.”

That same sentence would echo in my mind during the UTSC food truck frenzy, an annual event on the UTSC campus. This year, I attended the frenzy on November 3, a chilly fall day with just the right amount of crisp wind to make you crave a hot meal. I arrived on campus to the smell of gravy, cheese, and meat on the grill. The food trucks were all arranged in a L-shape right in front of the Academic Resource Centre.

I was immediately confronted with lines of students braving the chilly air in long queues for various delicacies. I perused the options avail able: hot dogs, poutine, tacos, cheeseburgers, and ice cream. The bright colors of the various trucks called to me. A quick glance at the menus surprised me. The fast food that the trucks were offering was typical, but the palate and ingredi ents were not. Bulgogi poutine with kimchi and a runny egg, chicken sausage with jerk chicken sauce, paratha tacos, and so much more. A lot of the trucks even had halal and vegetarian options.

After a long period of contemplation, I settled on my first choice to try: the halal chicken hot dog from Zombie Dawgz and Conez — the bright pur ple of the truck beckoned me closer. A quick stint in the queue and seven dollars later, I was watch ing as my sausage was put on the grill, stuffed in a brioche hot dog bun, and then handed to me

wrapped in foil. All of the condiments lay in front of me — banana peppers, ranch, onions, and the iconic mustard and ketchup.

The next item was the poutine, smothered in gra vy, and topped with the squeakiest cheese curds. The richness of the dish contrasted with the chill in the air. Around me, the throng of students waned and rose again. People rushed between classes, running after they had grabbed their food, or sat in groups on the benches next to the trucks, brav ing the cold in huddles of winter coats, their frosty breath intermingling with steam rising from carton containers. That first bite of the poutine from the bright red Mustache Burger felt like a warm hug.

At the centre of it all was Alexandra Hoa, the or ganizer of the event and the operations assistant at the TBucks and Business Operations office. I met with Hoa in their office, a cozy space filled with suc culents and heaps of signs and flyers from various events. The first thing they did was offer me a cup of tea.

I was surprised to find out that it was actually Hoa’s first year organizing the event. It was also the first time that the event was run post pandemic. “For the most part, our department is in charge of inviting food trucks on campus and diversifying the food options here, making sure that we can keep things exciting for students and all that fun stuff,” Hoa said. “We’ve done [the food truck frenzy] in different forms [in the past]... but this time we made more of a point to invite more than one [truck] at a time so we can up the ante a little bit and promote it a lot more.” Catering to so many different tastes is a lofty goal, especially in a place as diverse as Scarborough, which boasts of some of the high est rates of racialized people and immigrants in the GTA.

“We first prioritize food trucks that we’ve worked with in the past and we’ve had good relationships with, and then start seeing what’s worked and what hasn’t worked and [whether] we should get something that’s a little bit different,” Hoa added.

“[For example], Feed the 6ix is actually local to us… and they run a catering business too, and it’s a lot of fun.”

They expanded on how finding food options for the diverse student body was not as difficult as you might imagine — only further proof of the diversity in Scarborough. “Food trucks nowa days, and other mom-and-pop shops around UTSC, have done such a great job of encom passing and being inclusive to different students and community members’ dietary restrictions. I find that food trucks now have a really great se lection of food options,” Hoa explained.

The event seemed like a huge success to me, and I personally witnessed the number of stu dents who showed up, and I saw their faces as they tried the food. Hoa, however, still has many ideas about how to improve.

“I wanted more of a reach… so next year I’m planning to promote it sooner, and do a lot more in-person marketing,” they said. Hoa also wants to include music and picnic blankets or tables to create a more inviting atmosphere for the com munity.

But the office’s campaigns aren’t all food relat ed. Hoa mentioned several other events happen ing on campus, including LUNCH at Miller Lash House, an Ontario heritage site that used to be the principal’s office when UTSC was still Scar borough College. Lunch is available there weekly on Wednesdays in the month of November, and students and faculty can eat while enjoying one of the best views of Highland Creek.

If Hoa runs the lunch the way they ran the food truck frenzy, I’m sure their enthusiasm will bleed into it the same way; their energy is nothing short of infectious. “We’re here to celebrate food and do something fun, and help students find a dif ferent pace of life on campus,” Hoa concluded.

U of T graduate dissertation examines the value of this often-dismissed medium

Scarborough’s diversity makes for delicious dishes.

SALIH MOHAMEDALI OMER/THEVARSITY

I tried watching The Kissing Booth, but disliked it intensely; from the airtight rules of friendship to the ‘OMG girls’ that are a poor imitation of the Mean Girls’ ‘plastics,’ I found it cliché and unre alistic.

And yet, I raced to Netflix the day the sequel was released.

I would never have expected myself to be the kind of person who watches something for the sole purpose of making a mockery of it. Still, I know I’m not the only person who enjoys hate watching — the act of consuming media with the intention, or expectation, of disliking it — made evident by the popularity of shows like Riverdale The show accumulated a decent-sized view ership and a 6.6/10 rating on IMDB, given the amount of hate it received on social media. De spite very vocal backlash, the show continuously got renewed.

It seems that people cannot get enough of hatewatching. And, in turn, the industry can’t stop producing content for us to hate — there are all sorts of bad movies and TV shows on a plethora of platforms. But why is it such a fail proof way to garner attention? Why do we love to hatewatch?

Consuming hate content

It’s possible that people are actually more en gaged and stimulated by content that they’re meant to hate. Think about it: when you watch a good movie, you might be consuming substantial content, but you might not be thinking about it all that much. On the other hand, the pleasure of hate content is specifically derived from you ac tively making fun of it. You’ll watch He’s All That

with some friends, make jokes about it through out, post some hot takes on Twitter after the fact, and call it a day. The viewer obtains the pleasure of watching something mindless while also ex ercising their critical thinking skills at the lowest level.

People also often claim to like things ‘ironically’ to gloss over the fact that, despite ridiculous plot lines or poorly written characters, they indulge in that content. I believe it is possible to objectively understand that something is bad while simulta neously finding escapism in it — in other words, it’s so bad, it’s good.

However, bad media wouldn’t garner nearly as much attention if it wasn’t for the bandwagon ef fect, a psychological phenomenon based on our desire to feel included. When there starts to be an influx of hate for a particular piece of media, many people will want to hop on the ‘bandwagon,’ to make their judgment of whether it is as comical or absurd as the popular opinion makes it out to be. Since this creates a preexisting community with a shared opinion, people from that community go into the experience of consuming the media with negative biases.

Producing hate content

But what does this mean for the future of media?

The concept that any kind of publicity is ben eficial, whether positive or negative, has been around for a while. Whether you find the quality of certain content atrocious or exceptional, clicking on a video or streaming a movie is cash going into the creator’s pocket. For that reason, many intentionally create bad content for a quick buck.

For reference, a creator will earn money when a cringey POV video goes viral on TikTok, regard less of whether the people watching think the

video is good or bad. Many viewers will rush to stitch it and post their reactions, and out of bewil derment, new people will find the original video to ridicule it themselves.

Although the whole process makes a laughing stock out of the original creator, what does viral ity mean for them? More engagement, clout, and money. This pattern has created a subgenre of content that is purposely bad which has spread like wildfire — creators are filming things so laughable that it’s hard to distinguish the genu inely bad content from intentionally bad content.

Traditionally, creators have had two options: they put in the effort to make good content and it performs well, or they put in the effort and it flops. But hate content has created a third op tion. Now that creators know how people react to hilariously bad content, it feels dependable to create something terrible and make a good earn ing from it, so long as they’re willing to sacrifice their credibility.

Moreover, this type of content lacks vulner ability. Since it’s satirical, it shields creators from authentic criticism since their content was meant to be bad.

Another cause for bad content is the sheer volume of content produced by platforms like

Netflix. A broken clock is right twice a day, and Netflix uses that strategy to experiment with dif ferent kinds of content, prioritizing quantity over quality. The consequence? Their subscribers be gin to dwindle, and every movie or TV show on Rotten Tomatoes with a rotten score is a Netflix Original.

But brands habitually look to the wants of consumers when creating products, and this is no different. I don’t believe that hate content is forcing a colossal shift in the media landscape that we need to take immediate action against. Most media creators want their work to be taken seriously, and making this specific content does not guarantee anything more than temporary at tention and infamy.

Making movies and TV shows is an art form. If your sole purpose in creating art is for ulterior motives related to fame and money, that’s not art — and consumers will notice.

Admittedly, it’s become so easy to access bad media that it can become overwhelming to find what’s good. But there have been and will always be artists and executives making bad content because our love to hate as a human species is something innate and psychological. I, for one, will enjoy it sparingly.

Streaming sites offer a plethora of awful content for your consumptive needs. AUGUSTINE WONG/THEVARSITY

Julie Lam Varsity Contributor

Inequality or unfairness? Exploring how we develop morality

Ashiana Sunderji Varsity Contributor

Do children have morals? Is equality really impor tant in our societies? And how much do we value the labour people put into the things they create? These are questions that Christina Starmans, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychol ogy, answers with her lab, the StarLab for Mind and Development. The lab focuses on children, their re flections on themselves and others, and how they differentiate between right and wrong. It also inves tigates how humans change over time, how they interact with objects, and their ownership over their belongings.

Children’s perspective on the nature of the self

A recent article published by the lab, “Children’s the ories of the self,” concluded that adults and children associate their sense of self as separate from their body. When you or I reflect on our sense of selves, we do not think of our bodies, but rather our identi ties. Reflecting in this manner is natural for us, and if a child demonstrates that this is an innate under standing, it could serve as evidence that these quali ties are what separate us from inanimate objects and non-human animals. The fundamental elements of what make us who we are are not the materials that make up our physical form, but instead are our passions, interests, memories, and emotions.

The article refers to a 2004 study by Jesse Ber ing and David Bjorklund, where the authors ask children to state what they think will happen to a mouse once it is dead. The children express that the mouse will no longer require nourishment and that it will not age. However, the children also be lieve that the mouse will continue to experience “beliefs, desires, and emotions.” This solidifies that children are able to differentiate between body and mind. Furthermore, the study drew these conclusions across children with diverse religious upbringings.

Unequal societies

In another article from StarLab, “Why people pre fer unequal societies,” the authors concluded that, “When people are asked about the ideal distribu tion of wealth in their country, they actually prefer unequal societies.” It is not economic inequality, but rather unfairness within societies that frustrates people. Economic inequality refers to the difference in assets and income for different groups, but eco nomic unfairness is often correlated with it. Unfair ness in societies manifests as unequal compensa tion for labour and exacerbates inequality greatly.

People value working hard to achieve success. While individuals don’t expect everyone in society to be equal, they expect to be equally rewarded for their work and labour, leading the authors to con clude that humans value having something to work toward. The paper supports this idea by studying

a diverse group of individuals with varying political ideologies, countries of origin, and age groups. Interestingly enough, many people don’t want more than they already have, but rather want more compared to the people around them. The study found that selfishness and competition are significant motivators behind these values. Within industries, competition and inequality are also con sidered vital, as some believe that inequality can be used as an incentive for innovation.

Creation

A final article, “Creation in judgements about the establishment of ownership,” questions the role of creation on the status of ownership over belong ings. This is a fascinating question to approach, as some religious individuals, particularly those fol lowing Abrahamic faiths, value God or the Creator above everything, so there would be merit in ques tioning how people see other humans who have

invented or created objects. This question ties into ownership, as the study found that people seem to view themselves as having higher ownership when they are successful in their creation and when they create with intent, as opposed to when they buy something. The authors also concluded that the la bour it takes to create is frequently considered less important than the actual object of creation.

Conclusion

StarLab produces research that dives deep into what is an innate understanding of being and exist ing in society versus what is learned. Its research teaches us that we are naturally inclined to view ourselves as separate from our physical selves. It makes us understand that it is not inequality that we see as wrong but unfairness. Finally, we learn that ownership correlates with creation and intent, and higher ownership is ascribed to those who cre ate their objects with the intent it is used for.

Promoting mental health across campus with the U of T Mental Health Association

Janhavi Agarwal Business & Labour Editor

The University of Toronto Mental Health As sociation (UofTMHA) was founded at UTSG in 2016 to link students at UTSG with men tal health resources. In 2020, the association spread their efforts to all three campuses.

The co-founders of the club, Angelica Kuz ma and Hannah Socket, undergraduate stu dents at the time, established the association to provide students with healthy coping mech anisms and help make mental health resources more accessible.

The Varsity spoke about the association’s mission and ventures with Rohina Kumar and Victoria Colaluca, current UofTMHA co-presi dents and students at U of T. The co-presidents work with their vice presidents Matthew Kuo, Aliah Janoudy, and Julianna Gajraj, on UofT MHA’s various initiatives including resource handbooks, social events, and workshops.

An ever evolving mission “Our main goal is to break the stigma surround ing mental health and allow students to feel empowered through their own mental health journeys,” said Colaluca in an interview with The Varsity

The executive team works towards a new initiative each year to best aid students and improve UofTMHA’s reach. In 2016, the asso ciation focused on suicide prevention by part nering with local charities focused on suicide prevention and collaborating with the Toronto Distress Center.

In 2020, a COVID-19 initiative was added due to the circumstances and focused on ma neuvering obstacles brought about by the pan demic. UofTMHA placed a significant emphasis

on having mental health resources available to students, even in an online setting. In 2021, it followed a very intersectional theme given the global unstable political situation.

The association has been focusing on transi tioning to more in-person events this year and shifting from getting out of quarantine and the virtual stage to being in person.

Building mental health awareness through various initiatives

“We want to think of mental health as laying on a continuum,” said Kumar in an interview with The Varsity. As a result, the association hosts a wide range of events such as journaling events, panel discussions, and pub nights.

UofTMHA has also worked on a variety of resource handbooks. It conducts extensive research on mental health and educational re sources available primarily in Ontario and orga nizes them based on their benefits to specific groups such as LGBTQ+ folks, people from specific cultures and ethnicities, and more. These handbooks catego rize each

whether it is for international or domestic stu dents, affordability, location, and more. “We take into account all sorts of barriers that people often face when trying to navigate or access mental health care,” said Kumar. The association has launched seven handbooks so far, including their latest one for people from war-affected countries.

The association also creates care packages for women and children experiencing homeless ness and donates them to women’s shelters across downtown Toronto.

On a lighter note, the association also hosts pub nights, open mic nights, and movie nights to strengthen the student community.

“Our overall aim with these initiatives is to build a strong community among students, as well as facilitate one-on-one connections wherever we can, with a primary focus on student men tal health,” said Kumar. The association also launched a mentorship program in 2020, con necting upper-year students with lower-year stu dents to facilitate meaningful connections.

Is there a mental health crisis at U of T? According to UofTMHA, yes, there is. Kumar believes that this could be the result of several factors, such as the challenging transition from high school to university or the aca demic rigour and pressure that comes from attend ing a top 20 school such as U of T. She cites the existence of the ‘@ uoftears’ Instagram confessions page — on which there are regular confession posts from distressed students on topics ranging from academic

to social and personal difficulties — as being in dicative of this.

Kumar also believes that factors outside U of T’s control also contribute to this crisis. Mental health disorders in Ontario account for about 10 per cent of all health-related issues, but they re ceive just seven per cent of health-care dollars. Mental health in Ontario is underfunded by about $1.5 billion.

At U of T, long wait times and inconsistency in the mental health services received by students, particularly with assigned therapists still exist. “Sometimes, [students will] build a good rapport with the therapist, and then they get switched to another one, so they feel like they’ve lost all prog ress,” said Kumar.

Kumar and Colaluca believe it is crucial to develop a diversified mental health system that suits the target population. The co-presidents also emphasize that U of T needs to foster a supportive community for students, focused on building healthy and trusting relationships among students.

Practicing healthy habits

“Mental health is important and equal to physi cal health. They both inform each other, and go hand in hand… it’s not possible to think about one without thinking about the other,” said Co laluca.

Colaluca suggests adopting healthy habits as coping mechanisms during times of stress. She recommends a self-care practice that is specific to one’s needs. Finding a self-care practice that works for oneself may involve some trial and er ror, but it is essential to stay consistent with it.

Colaluca also emphasizes the importance of fostering social connections. “It’s definitely im portant to set aside time to try to connect with a few people that make you feel happy that are there to support you,” said Colaluca.

COURTESY OF CARIN ARAUJO/CC WIKIMEDIA, JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

How does morality change in humans, and do we really value equality?

National climate science satellite mission co-led by U of T secures federal funding

U of T joins NASA’s Atmospheric Observing System project to predict the climate crisis

Sabrina Wong Varsity Contributor

As the climate crisis gets worse, extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency and magnitude across the globe. To advance our understanding and prediction of these events, a consortium of researchers co-led by the Univer sity of Toronto has secured federal funding.

The team — consisting of 13 Canadian universi ties, federal government agencies, and aerospace industry partners — is collaborating with NASA on the High-altitude Aerosols, Water vapour and Clouds (HAWC) satellite system, a set of instru ments designed to supply critical data on driving forces behind weather and climate patterns.

In a speech at the Spacebound Conference on October 18, 2022, François-Philippe Cham pagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry, announced over $200 million in funding for the HAWC mission. The HAWC sys tem, with its various components scheduled to launch in 2028 and 2031, represents Canada’s contribution to the Atmospheric Observing Sys tem (AOS), an international mission led by NASA to improve our capacity to examine links between aerosols, clouds, and weather.

“Canada has always played a key role in inter national space programs, helping to find solutions to global challenges,” stated Champagne in his announcement. “Today, more than $200 million announcement builds on those successes with our participation in NASA’s AOS program. It also speaks to our commitment to harnessing science

and research to address climate change, natural disasters, and other issues that are important to Canadians.”

The HAWC mission will contribute three in struments to the AOS: the Thin Ice Cloud and Far InfraRed Emissions (TICFIRE), the Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water (SHOW), and the Aerosol Limb Imager (ALI). Two of these in struments will be mounted on a Canadian satel lite, with the third on a NASA satellite. Together, HAWC instruments will provide comprehensive information on interactions between aerosols, water vapour, and clouds in our atmosphere. This knowledge will advance the ability of meteorolo gists and climate scientists

to forecast and model events such as storms, floods, and droughts — a growing need world wide.

U of T’s contribution to the project is co-led by Kaley Walker, a professor in the Department of Physics and co-lead of the broader HAWC mis sion, and Kimberly Strong, a professor and chair of the Department of Physics. Walker and Strong will head up data quality and validation for the mission and impart their expertise toward satel lite mission development.

“The data we will capture through this satellite mission will help us better understand clouds, aerosols and their interactions — a major source of uncertainty in climate

modelling — and strengthen our predictions,” said Walker in an interview with the Faculty of Arts and Science. “So many scientists and insti tutions have come together across the country to pool their expertise and resources in support of this important and exciting mission.”

Along with U of T, McGill University, the Uni versity of Saskatchewan, and l’Université du Québec à Montréal are the co-leading institu tions on the HAWC mission. Other contributing universities are the University of New Brunswick, l’Université de Sherbrooke, the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, St. Francis Xavier University, Saint Mary’s University, the Uni versity of Victoria, Western University, and Dal housie University.

Other Canadian collaborators include the Ca nadian Space Agency, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the National Research Coun cil of Canada, and Natural Resources Canada. Internationally, NASA’s AOS mission comprises team members from Canada, the US, France, Germany, and Japan.

Canada’s HAWC system represents signifi cant advances in atmospheric science and en gineering. It serves as an impetus for the forging of partnerships coast to coast and the creation of training opportunities for the next generation of scientists and engineers. Taken together, the HAWC system and broader AOS mission will provide evidence to inform crucial policy deci sions pertaining to climate change and deliver critical information to keep communities safe while moving forward.

Invert: Tackling climate change with

Lucia McLaren Varsity Contributor

Though young people don’t agree on much, they express one sentiment overwhelmingly: the cli mate crisis is a danger to the future. In a 2021 survey conducted by Nature, around 60 per cent of people around the world aged 16–25 reported being either “very worried” or “extremely worried” about the climate. Overall, 95 per cent of respon dents felt some variation of worried, with only 5 per cent responding that they were “not worried”. This distress may come from both the tangible impacts of the climate crisis and a sense of helplessness. What can an 18 year old do to fight rising green house gas emissions?

One way to tackle this question is through Invert, a carbon footprint tracking app launched this Au gust. Users can input their daily habits and Invert will help them track their personal impact on the environment, give suggestions for lowering them, and connect the user to a community oriented to ward the same goals on the app.

For many, this is a great place to start — a ma jority of university students aren’t battling lawmak ers in court, but they want to help and may feel intimidated by the scope of the issue. Invert offers guidance in getting involved in climate activism and finding ways to fight the climate crisis.

The Varsity reached out to Invert’s head of cor porate client success, Arsalan Talebzadeh, who attended the University of Toronto for his MBA in 2016. Talebzadeh has worked in sustainability throughout his career in mining engineering and related industries, and he brings that same passion to Invert.

Invert began with a few people taking inspiration from the 2015 Paris Agreement — an international treaty outlining a path to carbon neutrality. The new company developed a multi-faceted approach to tackling the climate crisis, helping individuals im

prove their environmental impact and educating companies about their offsets. The latter is es pecially important due to past controversies with carbon-neutral efforts.

“There’ve been some missteps in the past that happened a few years back... so there’s been a bad reputation within the industry, and a lot of companies are still hesitant,” explained Talebza dah. One such controversy is with carbon offset systems in British Columbia. The mishandling of the initial creation of the systems gave the com pany Pacific Carbon Trust a monopoly over selling carbon offsets to the government.

And what about Invert’s future? Talebzadeh said that the company hopes to expand its environmen tal project investment, encouraging global engage ment. Invert advertises itself as differing from other carbon-tracking apps by investing in the projects it advertises — ensuring that the effort is high-quality and trustworthy. One such project is Carbon Cure — a Canadian company that stored carbon dioxide in concrete to mitigate its effects on the climate. The process discovered by Carbon Cure is not just theoretical but also practical; it is being used in Ca nadian construction projects to help us reach our climate goals.

Talebzadeh’s advice for young people who may feel helpless against the scope of the climate crisis is to recognize the progress already made: “I think if you look at the progress that’s been made in the last two, three years compared to the two decades prior, it’s huge.” His perspective from within the in dustry makes him hopeful: “I wouldn’t feel that one voice isn’t making a difference because, collective ly, we are.” The current emissions curve is heating the world at a minimum of 0.5 degrees Celsius less than before the Paris Agreement.

Beyond simply tracking your carbon footprint, the company encourages those interested in its work to engage in an ever-growing community, which is why it has multiple university students in volved in its projects and development.

Explainer: Solar energy

Varsity Contributor

As energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reach an all-time high, the need for clean en ergy grows dire. At the forefront of the en ergy crisis, solar power, when used over a few years, will be one of the most affordable options for consumers and businesses alike.

This revolutionary technology can be sum marized in three steps: capturing solar ener gy, converting it into power, and connecting it to a grid.

Solar energy can be captured as either heat or light. The solar panels seen on cars or houses capture light and are made of mil lions of tiny photovoltaic cells that produce current from sunlight; when they work to gether, these cells can power anything from your home to the International Space Sta tion.

For heat capturing, large mirror formations are used to concentrate light energy to a

receiver, converting that energy to heat and generating steam to turn a turbine, giving the technology its name: concentrating solar power. This form of solar energy is more eas ily stored than the one captured from pho tovoltaic cells, simply because heat can be stored for longer and in larger volumes than current, making heat capturing the preferred method for large solar farms.

Once captured and converted, the so lar-converted energy enters the electrical grid where it is carried over long distances through high-voltage wire systems. Trans formers then convert this electricity into the low-voltage connection used in homes and businesses.

From the sun to your home, the extraor dinary technology of harnessing solar power goes mostly unnoticed, and its potential is far from being achieved.

How do solar panels convert light and heat into electrical energy?

Michael Zhou

ELIZABETH XU/THEVARSITY

November 14, 2022 thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

How did Canada perform in the 1986 World Cup?

What we can learn from the CMNT’s first appearance on a global stage

Ottavia Paluch Varsity Contributor

On November 23, the Canadian men’s na tional soccer team (CMNT) will play in its first World Cup game in 36 years. That’s right, this isn’t our first rodeo! It sure does feel like it, though, especially considering just how much has changed since then.

Things were a lot different for Canadian soccer in 1986. None of the names on the roster are ones that you would recognize. The World Cup that year was held in Mexico, and Canada was drawn into a difficult group, one that few thought Canada could survive, since it included the likes of Hungary, the Soviet Union, and France.

Canada’s first game was against the French, a team loaded with stars like Michel Platini and Jean-Pierre Papin. France had just come off a UEFA Euro championship in 1984 and were the favourites to win the World Cup. Despite this, Canada held their ground, playing a sharp defensive game and holding France scoreless until Papin scored in the 79th minute to break the deadlock and win the game. France would go on to finish third in the tournament.

Hoping to build off the positive aspects of that first performance, Canada’s second game was against Hungary, who was a much better team than you might expect. While they were the first team out of Europe to qualify for the World Cup, in their first match, they were hammered 6–0 by the Soviet Union. De spite this, Canada failed to capitalize on the momentum they had created for themselves in their game against France, falling 2–0 to Hungary.

With one group game remaining, not all was lost for Canada. If they could defeat the Soviet Union and the stars aligned with other World

Cup groups, a path to the knockout stages of the tournament was possible. But the So viet Union was no pushover, featuring the likes of Igor Belanov — who had just won the Bal lon d’Or, football’s most coveted individual tro phy. The game remained scoreless for about 60 minutes, until the Soviet Union brought in heavy hitters Belanov and Oleksandr Zavarov to help push their team over the edge. The Soviet Union

scored two goals in quick succession, and Can ada was officially eliminated from the World Cup.

On paper, Canada’s performance doesn’t seem impressive in the slightest — three matches and three losses, with zero goals scored. But the fact that Canada was even in the World Cup to begin with was a massive achievement for Canadian soccer, even though it’s since been lost to history. Out of the play

ers on the current National Team roster, only one player is older than Canada’s last World Cup appearance — Atiba Hutchison, who is 39 years old and serves as team captain.

Still, the tournament was responsible for inspiring a new generation of Canadian soc cer players who represented their country on the global stage in the 1990s and 2000s, a difficult period for Canadian soccer. While the women’s team has grown into a force that might contend for the women’s World Cup next year, the men’s team has experienced many painful years of struggle and failure on big stages.

Only in recent years has a new generation of Canadian soccer players emerged, ready to take the mantle from that 1986 World Cup team and raise the standard for the men’s na tional team performance in international soccer.

And the team representing Canada this month at the World Cup has a lot more in com mon with the team that represented Canada in 1986 than you might realize. The CMNT just released their official roster for the World Cup, and for every Johnathan David or Alphonso Davies, there are also a ton of names on the roster that you might not recognize.

Much like in 1986, this year Canada has had its fair share of doubters on its route to the World Cup. Many did not expect them to even earn a spot at the tournament. The team has similarly been drawn into a difficult group that includes the likes of Morocco, as well as in ternational powerhouses Croatia and Belgium.

Overall, there are mixed opinions on how Canada will perform. Some think that it would be arduous for them to make it out of the group stage, while others are rather optimistic about their chances to get into the knockout stage. Will Canada outlast their 1900’s coun terparts? Or will they face the same troubles? Only time will tell.

In 2015, it was seen to be abhorrent to add jersey ads to NHL sweaters. “I like the history and tradition and the way [hockey jerseys] look,” explained NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in an NBC interview in 2015. “I’ve re

peatedly said we wouldn’t be the first [to add ads to our jerseys] and you’d probably have to bring me kicking and screaming.”

Bettman could not have predicted the CO VID-19 pandemic that forced many teams to play without fans in the stands. Seven years after Bettman’s initial statement regarding jersey advertisements, some teams are add ing sponsors to their jerseys to recover from losses incurred during the pandemic.

Fans have had mixed reactions. A common critique is that the sponsored patch taints the sanctity of some jerseys. Others dismissed the need to recover lost revenue from the pandemic, instead expressing disapproval at the league for engaging in what they see as penny pinching.

When asked about the new addition to the jersey, Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain, John Tavares, simply stated: “[We always] knew something like that was coming.” He isn’t wrong — jersey sponsors aren’t new and their introduction into the NHL was easy to predict.

Jersey sponsors have existed in other sports for a while already. NASCAR is perhaps the most prominent example, with drivers’ jer seys and cars being littered with sponsors. In European soccer leagues, it’s also common for jerseys to have more than one sponsor on them. In the WNBA, the sponsor dominates the jersey — the team’s logo and names are completely absent. Furthermore, several

hockey leagues outside of the NHL utilize jer sey sponsors, meaning this isn’t even a new addition to the hockey world.

Over the last five years, the phenomenon made its way into some of North America’s major sports leagues. The NBA allowed spon sors on jerseys in 2017, while in the MLB, teams will be allowed to get jersey sponsors starting this upcoming season. The NFL is the only outlier, where sponsors are allowed only on practice jerseys. Nevertheless, it’s obvi ous that jersey sponsors have become a key source of revenue for leagues.

It’s important to note that the changes have come with some strict restrictions. The NHL’s rules stipulate that the sponsor must fit within a three-inch-by-3.5-inch patch that can only be positioned on either side of the chest or shoulder. For now, there is no reason to be lieve that hockey jerseys may soon resemble NASCAR jerseys.

“The more logos you put on there, the less value there might be,” explained Keith Wach tel, the NHL’s chief business officer and senior executive vice president. “So the clubs want ed to go with the one ad. That’s what we’ll have for the foreseeable future.”

The addition of sponsors will bring in more revenue, currently estimated at $5–10 million per team. This will come with benefits, like preventing ticket prices from rising or provid ing revenue for teams to renovate stadiums to

improve the fan experience.

Wachtel explained another benefit that the jersey patches could bring by helping to make the NHL globally influential.

“We are a global sport, with a significant amount of players that come from overseas,” said Wachtel. “While there certainly will be opportunities for our clubs with local market companies… I do see some of our clubs look ing at global brands that are looking for the global exposure that the NHL can provide.”

Some worry that the addition of sponsored jerseys will not be as profitable as currently predicted. Hockey is such a fast-paced game that the logo will barely be visible on cameras. Comparatively, in the NBA, free throws slow the game and allow brands to capitalize on more close-up visuals.

Upset fans will likely have to get used to the new addition. Ultimately, the NHL is already heavily sponsored, as seen on the helmets, ice, boards, and in the names of the stadiums. At the very least, the NHL seems willing to ap pease upset fans — jerseys without the spon sor are still available for purchase.

The optimistic outlook is that hopefully the extra revenue generated from this sponsoring will be used to benefit fans.

“I know people like the pure jersey,” Nick Suzuki, captain of the Montreal Canadiens ex plained. “But it’s how it is. It’s where the NHL is going.”

Opinion: The addition of jersey sponsors is a controversial break from NHL tradition Has the NHL sold its soul to the advertising industry?

Kunal Dadlani Associate Sports Editor

Hockey jerseys are a special form of memorabilia for many hockey fans.

COURTESY OF KLIM MUSALIMOV/UNSPLASH

Platini boldly takes on a Canadian defender. COURTESY OF EL GRAFICO/CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

How protected are university athletes from concussions?

Shocking injury in the NFL sparks discussions of concussion protocols

Victoria Paulus Varsity Contributor

American football enthusiasts might have noticed that the NFL updated its concussion protocols fol lowing a terrifying incident involving Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

On September 29, the Miami Dolphins faced the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium for their fourth game of the season, hoping to continue their three-game winning streak. With about five min utes left in the second quarter, Bengals defensive lineman Josh Topou sacked Tagovailoa, who lay on the ground with his arms up, blocking his head, his fingers curled up. It appeared that he was unable to move and unresponsive, and he was quickly put on a stretcher and rushed to a hospital.

Just four days earlier during the Dolphins’ game against the Buffalo Bills, Tagovailoa took a hard hit to the ground by Bills linebacker Matt Milano, and was seen grabbing his head and stumbling as he tried to get up. Although the NFL initially stated that Tagovailoa had a head injury, the stumbling was later attributed to back and ankle injuries, and Ta govailoa was given the go ahead to finish playing

the game.

This incident brought an uproar of anger through out the football community; fans and football critics could not understand why he was cleared to play after his injury, and many people questioned if he would ever play again. Bennet Omalu, a concus sion specialist who first discovered brain degra dation in athletes, otherwise known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in retired football players, encouraged Tagovailoa to quit playing football for good in an interview with TMZ sports.

Following an investigation into the incident, the NFL and the NFL Players Association decided to add the term “ataxia” to their concussion protocol. The protocol describes ataxia as the “abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination or dysfunc tional speech caused by a neurological issue.” As a result of the protocol change, if a player displays any of these symptoms, they will not be allowed to return to the game. In short, the NFL aims to ensure that incidents like the one that Tua experi enced will not happen in the future.

This addition to the NFL’s concussion protocol is named the “Tua Rule,” after Tagovailoa, and is there to ensure that an incident like this never happens again. The rule also calls on all football organiza

tions to better protect their players and their safety by ensuring that their concussion protocols are up to date.

The government of Ontario requires sports or ganizations to have some sort of concussion pre vention protocol. This law is called Rowan’s law, named after Rowan Stringer, a high school rugby player from Ottawa who died from consecutive concussions in 2013. Rowan’s law dictates the fol lowing: that athletes, coaches, and teams review Ontario’s concussion awareness resources, that organizations maintain a concussion code of con duct, and that they create a Removal-from-Sport and Return-to-Sport protocol.

Ontario University Athletics (OUA) has instituted these regulations and has a plethora of informa tion about the dealings with concussions on their website. However, some athletes still think that the protocols can be improved.

“What worries me are the small concussions that unknowingly occur throughout the season,” wrote the Blues’ star quarterback Kinsale Philip, when The Varsity asked him about his feelings on the current concussion protocols. “Some type of necessary mid-season evaluations would be help ful to see where players who have not come for

ward with obvious symptoms are at.”

Like almost every NFL fan, Philip was shocked at the injuries Tua endured, but noted, “Players, like myself, fully accept the risks and are highly motivat ed to stay on the field regardless.” In high contact sports like football, hockey, and even soccer, play ers run the risk of brain injury every moment that they spend on the pitch, field, or ice. Their ability to remain healthy, confident, and beat the odds are what makes them truly extraordinary.

My experience on the UTSC women’s ice hockey team

A look into the life of an intramural athlete

Dihyah Khan Varsity Contributor

As a first-year student, it can feel intimidating walking around campus and seeing many un known faces. While this may prompt some to strike up spontaneous conversations, for intro verts like myself, this can be a bit challenging. Enter sports. Once you know you have a shared interest, it’s much easier for discussions to flow and friendships to form. For me, this particular sport is ice hockey, and my journey started when I joined UTSC’s women’s ice hockey team.

I started playing back home in Vancouver when I was seven years old, and I knew it was something I couldn’t see myself letting go of any time soon. Everyone on the UTSC team is wel coming and the diverse skill levels our players possess are something I find to be very enthrall ing. A memorable moment for me was walking into Varsity Arena for the first time this year and

lacing up my skates. The exhilaration didn’t stop there; this is my first full season. There re ally isn’t any shortage of positive things to say after joining UTSC’s women’s ice hockey team. The manageable workload is an added bonus since I’m still able to prioritize and focus on my school work.

Don’t let this confuse you, though — the league is quite competitive. With four teams across the three campuses, most games are quite close. So far, we’ve won three out of four games. Our last game ended in a 3–1 victory against UTM on November 6. We’ll be facing off against Victoria College on November 20, in hopes of extending our winning streak to four games.

Our Head Coach Greg Danko shared his thoughts on the game against Skule: “[The game] was a really gutsy performance [by the team]… if [you] play as a team, you know you can overcome a much better team just by play ing as a unit… If we get the best out of every

body cumulatively every game, that’s what any coach wants.”

When asked about his feelings regarding the return to hockey after the pandemic, he men tioned the excitement that comes with the begin ning of any season, no matter the circumstanc

Is this the end for Messi and Ronaldo?

The two legends race against Father Time

Brandon Lo Hog Tian Varsity Contributor

For 15 years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated football, raising the level of the game and consistently producing spectacular mo ments on the pitch. Much like any sport, great per

formance warrants great awards. The Ballon d’Or is an annual award that recognizes the best player in the world, and Messi and Ronaldo have won it an astonishing seven and five times, respectively. However, Karim Benzema recently won the 2022 Ballon d’Or, and, for the first time in many years, Ronaldo placed 20th and Messi didn’t even make

the 30-player shortlist for the award. Will either of them ever win again?

What does it take to win the Ballon d’Or?

In order of importance, the Ballon d’Or is based on individual performance, team performance, and fair play. In other words, winners usually play for teams that have either won or reached the later stages in the biggest competitions, such as the Champions League. They are also the players who have made the most impactful contributions to their teams’ success. Will Ronaldo or Messi be able to have the same impact going forward?

Ronaldo’s chances

At 37 years old, Ronaldo has started in four out of 10 Premier League matches with a total of one goal. His team, Manchester United, failed to qualify for the Champions League after finishing sixth in the Premier League last season. As a result, the team has qualified for the Europa League. Ronaldo is not even getting the opportunity to play football at the highest level. Due to his lack of playtime, he may not be fit or sharp enough for the World Cup. With his age and declining performance, the list of teams for him to potentially move to is shortened. Therefore, it might be nearly impossible for Ronaldo to win another Ballon d’Or.

es. He said, “I haven’t thought of it like [a return to normalcy after the pandemic].”

The UTSC women’s hockey team hopes to continue to dominate the ice this season by winning a game against Victoria College on No vember 20.

Messi’s chances

In contrast, Messi has had a fantastic start to the season. At age 35, he’s started in every game this season for Paris Saint-Germain. He’s notched sev en goals and 10 assists and is displaying his usual excellence after a rather disappointing 2021/22 season. While Ronaldo seems to be down and out, Messi may still have more left in him. The real test will be the Champions League and the World Cup.

Who will be their successor?

It seems unlikely that there will be another period of dominance for these two players. Some suggest that Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland are their successors, as they are both young, elite players. But Messi and Ronaldo exhibited a rare dominance over the last fifteen years as part of Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively. Both teams consistently won trophies in the Champions league, and were rivals at the top of the table domestically in La Liga, with Messi and Ronaldo undoubtedly being the most impactful players in their respective teams. This is extremely rare in the history of football.

Before Messi and Ronaldo came along, Ballon d’Or winners were typically different players each year. The next generation seems to have a more even playing field, with multiple teams and players in tight competition for the big team and individual trophies.

While we may still witness some spectacular moments of brilliance from Messi and Ronaldo, their era of dominance is coming to an end, and the future of football will more likely consist of many different Ballon d’Or winners.

Fans catch a glimpse of the action from the stands at Varsity Stadium. COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES MEDIA

Heading balls traveling at high speeds in soccer can result in concussions. COURTESY OF HENRY ZHAO/VARSITY BLUES MEDIA COURTESY